Sharp Shooter
by C1ockworks
Summary: OC A new recruit has entered ES.W.A.T. Will she be competition for Deunan, or will she fold under pressure? R&R plz
1. New Recruit

Well here it is, my first Appleseed fic. Hope you like it. I don't mind flames I don't mind non-flames either.

**Disclaimer: I own no part of the Appleseed saga. I just bought the movie On Demand that's about all**

**_Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen nor finished Appleseed 2 Ex Machina you may not want to read this so go watch it and read and review this_**

Bullets sprayed wildly as Deunan stealthily hid behind a wall at a bank. A gang of cyborgs held a group of tellers and a few civilians hostage. One was armed with a construction landmate, the others with automatic rifles. They fired from all angles and had her soundly pinned down. She was nearly out of ammo. She took a passive breath and bit a pin off of a flash grenade. She threw it up in the air and rolled out from behind the wall. She quickly ran across the open hall and scanned the area. As soon as the grenade exploded, all gunshots ceased except a few single bursts. The sound of shells bouncing on the floor rang through the building as well as quick echoing footsteps. As visibility returned, Deunan had disappeared. The cyborgs that weren't guarding hostages were down and the landmate was disabled. There were a few moments of silence before the man in charge gave out orders.

"Find her, now!" he screamed. His subordinates slowly walked off, scanning the area carefully. When they reached the center of the room, a loud clang echoed behind them.

"Looking for me?" Briareos said before shooting the boss cyborg in the head. The others turned and readied themselves to fire. Deunan, from a beam overhead, dropped down behind the one on the far left and stabbed his eye-scope with a knife. She quickly dispatched the others with a shot in the head.

"Nice work." she said as she started for the exit.

"Nice shooting." Briareos replied as he followed his partner outside.

"Good work as always you two." Lance said over the headset. "Secure the hostages. We're on our way."

"Come on; let's get out of here before something blows up again." Deunan smiled as she left the building. Briareos followed. Outside, ES.W.A.T. reinforcements as well as some police arrived. Carrier planes, landmates and the people in them were scattered all over the parking lot. In the midst of all the confusion, a light green motorcycle weaved through the jumbled mess of vehicles and people toward the carrier that Lance was exiting and came to a smooth fishtail stop. The rider, wearing a black and green jacket with white pinstripes along the sleeves and blue jeans, kicked down its stand and opened her visor revealing shining grey eyes. "Please don't tell me you're splitting us up again." Deunan sighed.

"Nope, not this time. But this is another new recruit." Lance said as he approached. "Athena brought her in herself." She pulled her helmet halfway over her head and leaned folded arms on her handlebars. Deunan gasped. She had features very similar to her own. She sported spiky brown hair that came to about her shoulders, styled almost identically to Deunan's. Her grey eyes accented her brazen skin and she didn't look any older than 20-something. "Briareos, Deunan, this is Tenari."

"Another Bioroid, huh? So where'd they get my DNA from?" Deunan asked smugly.

"She's not a Bioroid. She's human." Tereus appeared from behind Lance. "She's my new partner."

"I suppose the Prime Minister thought that we could use another female around." Lance shrugged. "She's pretty good too. Plucked right from the battlefield just like you were, Deunan. She only missed breaking your simulation record by fifteen seconds, so she's serious business." He said with a confident nod. "Anyway you guys are off duty for the rest of the day so show her around town, make her feel welcome." he waved as walked back towards the police force that started to investigate the crime scene.

"I've heard a lot about you two." Tenari said with a smirk.

"Can't say we've heard much about you." Deunan said. "No offense." she finished.

"None taken." Tenari replied. "You don't get too much recognition for being second best."

"Though, I've heard about the female soldier that took down a whole New Atlantis aerial squad." Deunan said.

"With a handgun." Tenari shrugged.

"That's incredible." Tereus said. "How'd you do it?"

"I was in what was left of a city and New Atlantis decided to launch an aerial attack knowing that some people fighting against them had set up camp there. New Atlantean fighter pilots always fly low when attacking. So I got to the roof of a building and jumped onto a plane and shot the others engines out. Then I found my way into the plane I was shooting from. Got shot on the arm twice, took everyone on the plane out and crash landed in some type of desert. I got no further than a mile when my infected gun wound made me pass out. I woke up here a few days later on a lab table. I had no clue where I was so my first instinct was to get out. Caused a little fuss until Athena stopped me." Tenari said.

"Let me guess. You took Hitomi as a hostage." Deunan smirked.

"She was the closest to me." Tenari shrugged. "Why, she told you?"

"No, I did too." Deunan chuckled. "What'd you say to her?"

"'Move and I'll - -'"

"Snap your neck?" Deunan interrupted. "That's what I said too. What platoon were you from?"

"First. I was the not-so-legendary female from the first platoon." Tenari grumbled.

"Everyone was killed in Africa but me." Briareos said. "I was first platoon leader at the time."

"I was the rookie who only got into first platoon because of family ties." Tenari said. Briareos still looked uninformed. "They called me Kickback because I fired a handgun gun without holding it right and it recoiled back on my forehead."

"That was you?" Briareos said.

"The seventeen-year-old you wouldn't let fight." Tenari said as she held up her hair covering the scar on her forehead. "Which, looking back on that moment, was pretty smart because I would've gotten us all killed."

"Wow, you've grown a lot since then." Briareos said.

"Well it's been almost four years. It doesn't take long to learn how to aim and shoot." Tenari shrugged.

"I have heard about the first platoon soldier, the only one who survived Africa." Deunan said. "But I always thought it was Briareos."

"No, it was me. They called me the phantom. I always heard rumors about myself but no one ever knew it was me. I thought that was cool." Tenari giggled.

"You seem pretty qualified, then. And you three have quite a bit in common." Tereus smiled.

"Yeah I guess so." Deunan said with a small smile.

Tenari smiled then looked to Briareos. "I've never met a Hecatonchire before."

"That's because I'm the only one whose body could adapt to this thing." he said.

"Do you regret it at all, if you don't mind me asking?" Tenari asked respectfully.

"No, because if this hadn't have been done then I would've died on the battlefield and would've never seen Deunan again. But I do miss my hair, though, but beggars can't be choosers." Briareos said.

"I understand." Tenari replied with a smile.

"Well since it's metal man's birthday, we can go out on the town tonight." Deunan said as she punched Briareos playfully in the shoulder.

"Sounds good." Tereus smiled and folded his arms. "I'll give her a tour of Olympus and we'll see you two later on tonight." Tereus said.

"Okay, see you two later then." Deunan said as she and Briareos headed for a carrier plane. Tereus turned back to Tenari who looked back up at him.

"So, now what?" Tenari said as placed her hands on the center of her handlebars.

"Follow me back to HQ so I can change and I'll show you around."


	2. Welcome to ESWAT

**All right everyone. Here it is. Round two of what I expect (if I don't have a dumb writing period again) to be a great fic. Special thanks to WheelWright for showing me my first dumb writing period. Just so you don't get confused the rest of the fic will be in Tenari's POV so try to keep up.**

"So where are we going?" I asked, my voice muffled by my helmet and the zooming traffic.

"The Bioroid Care Center. You haven't formally met Prime Minister Athena and Nike yet." Tereus said from the rear of my motorcycle. His black jacket flowed in the wind, revealing his white tank top. His blue jeans tucked inside his black boots that were almost resting on the muffler because of his long legs. I suggested that he drive because I was smaller, could fit on the back without burning up my shoes and he knew where he was going. I guess he can't drive a motorcycle. "That tall white building right there." He tapped my left side and I swerved my way onto the ramp leading towards the immense building.

"What do I need to meet them for? I thought I was with ES.W.A.T.." I said as I weaved through some loose traffic.

"You are but you work for them. They basically call the shots, we fire them." Tereus said.

"That wasn't very funny." I chuckled at Tereus' attempt at a joke.

"Can't win them all I guess." Tereus shrugged. He tapped on my right side leading us to a security checkpoint. I came to a slow stop as Tereus showed ES.W.A.T. ID and so did I. The guards opened the metal gate and we proceeded into the parking garage. Tereus directed me to special ES.W.A.T. parking spaces in front of the elevator into the building. Tereus dismounted the bike and pressed the button calling the elevator. I turned the bike off and removed my helmet, holding it by the jaw guard from the inside as I approached the elevator.

"You gonna take the helmet off?" I asked.

"I should, shouldn't I," he replied. "I forgot I had it on." He reached for the straps under his chin.

"How could you forget? It's too small. Doesn't it hurt?" I asked.

"No, it doesn't," Tereus said as he tugged the helmet off his head and rested it under his arm. He had a disoriented look on his face as he stared blankly at the elevator door.

"Tereus, you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said as the door opened. He stepped in and I followed. He pressed the button to the top floor and leaned against the opposite wall with his hand on his head. I looked at him with concerned eyes. He shot a quick look at me. "What!?" he growled.

"Nothing, you look a little sick, that's all." I replied with my hands raised defensively and a lowered brow. "Sorry for being worried."

"No, _I'm_ sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me," he said quickly. "I don't usually act like this. I'm not supposed to act like this." he mumbled so low I could hardly hear him. We soon arrived at the top floor, a white corridor ending at a large door with glass windows overlooking the care center. Bioroids in development were in their pods, scientists and observers checking were them and taking notes. I had never seen anything like this before. I watched in awe as I followed Tereus down the hall. Next to the door was a fingerprint scanner. Tereus placed his hand on it for a second and the door opened revealing the Prime Minister's office. It was impressive to say the least. The view was incredible. You could see almost all of Olympus from her office. She sat at her desk with her hands folded. What seemed to be her assistant stood next to her.

"Good morning Prime Minister, Nike." Tereus said respectfully.

"Good morning Tereus." Athena said. Her assistant nodded. "I see you've brought a visitor."

"As I understand, you two have met before." Tereus said.

"Yes we have. I didn't get a chance to get a good look at you the other day." the Prime Minister said.

I, deaf in amazement, continued to visually traverse her office and accidentally bumped into the stone wall that was Tereus which brought me back into reality. "Oh, man. I'm sorry. It's been a while since I've seen nice things like." I cursed at myself at how immature and homeless I sounded.

"It's fine, I understand." she replied with a warm smile. "You _do_ resemble Deunan remarkably, almost as much as Tereus does Briareos."

I raised an eyebrow and took a look at Tereus. It had been a while since I had seen Briareos last without the Hecatonchire hardware but Tereus does look just like him. "Well, I wouldn't say _that_." I said softly.

"I've also heard that your talent as a soldier parallels Deunan's as well." said Athena. Her upper body movements suggested that she crossed her legs.

"I wouldn't say that, either. I don't think I'm _that_ good." I said. I grabbed my left elbow bashfully.

"Nonsense. Your simulation record was only fifteen seconds short of Deunan's. But you stole one of our men's uniforms." Athena smiled. "Deunan didn't."

"It doesn't matter. Deunan is fifteen seconds faster. That makes a difference on the battlefield." I replied.

"Stop being so modest. It's rare that Athena gives compliments." Tereus smiled.

"At any rate," she chuckled "as a part of ES.W.A.T., you are expected to live up to and surpass your expectations. I expect nothing less than excellence from you. This may be a utopia for all mankind, but things do happen here as well." Athena slowly rose. "You were brought here to protect Olympus. This is your home now so treat it as such." She said with a firm expression.

"Understood." I nodded.

--

"Well that was fun." I sighed as I leaned against the elevator as we descended back down into the parking garage. "I suppose she likes me."

"Well she never talks to anyone else like that that I know of." Tereus said. "And she recommended you herself so there's probably a reason why she's so hard on you. Just take it as motivation." The elevator doors opened. We both walked out and approached my bike. Tereus pulled the straps out of his helmet as if he were about to put it on.

"Uh, Tereus? I don't think you should put the helmet on," I said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"You got a little . . . cranky when you had it on before," I said. "You looked a little out of it, too."

"That shouldn't happen again." Tereus said quietly. "In case you didn't already know, bioroids are genetically incapable of getting angry."

"It happened before. Maybe you should get it checked out." I threw my left leg over the bike and began to put my helmet on.

"I will tomorrow. It's Briareos' birthday. I don't want to miss it." Tereus said softly. He climbed on behind me. "I've got to take you to see Yoshitsune and get you acquainted with the landmates. Sorry I forgot to tell you earlier. We should have some time to see the city on the way if you want."

"No, it's okay. I'll show myself around tomorrow." I put the key in the ignition and slid on my helmet. "Don't worry about it."

"Alright." said Tereus as he put his helmet on. "Just head back to headquarters."

--

"Take it easy. Just get used to it before you try anything in it." Yoshitsune warned. He stood to my left as I sat in the test landmate.

"I don't think you need to worry about Tenari either." Hitomi said. She placed a reassuring hand on Yoshitsune's shoulder as she watched me from his left.

"I know, I . . . I just . . . . Well I don't have a legitimate excuse now. I guess I'm just a little nervous." Yoshitsune mumbled.

"His first excuse was that he had never seen a woman operate a landmate before. Deunan does it better than just about anyone else in ES.W.A.T.." Hitomi explained.

"I clearly have a rival now, don't I?" I grumbled as I clenched my fists tightly and so did the landmate.

"Hey! Relax! In case you've forgotten you're still in the landmate." Yoshitsune yelled.

"Sorry." I said softly as I loosened my hands. "So what should I do?"

"Stand up and try moving around a bit." Yoshitsune said. He sounded a bit calmer now that I was more willing to cooperate.

"Okay." I sighed. I slowly stood up with my arms out for balance. The landmate whirred and hissed as I moved until it was upright. "Okay. Now what?"

"Walk to the end of the hangar. Take it easy. Try not to run into anything." Yoshitsune said.

"You're starting to sound like a broken record." Hitomi giggled.

"She'll be fine. Athena wouldn't have sent for her if she didn't know what she was doing." Tereus said with folded arms.

"Besides, Deunan's done more in a test landmate than anyone has in a regular one." Hitomi looked to Yoshitsune with anticipation. Tereus looked to me then to him.

"I guess you're right." he sighed. "Follow me to the shooting range." He said as he walked towards the end of the hangar and right to a dome shaped room with a small city landscape he walked to a control panel towards the rear of the room and punched in a few buttons. "The guns are to your right" he shouted. I looked to my right and saw a rack full of gigantic automatic rifles.

"Whoa . . . ." I said softly. "How do I pick one up?"

"Use the landmates arms instead of your own." Tereus said from the door. "It may be hard to get used to at first but you'll be fine." I picked up a rifle and was amazed at how light it was.

"Technology is amazing." I said. Paying more attention to the task at hand, I readied my gun and nodded. "I'm ready."


	3. Night On The Town

"So where to, a pub or a sports bar?" Deunan asked as we idly descended the escalator into the city square. She wore a white t-shirt, blue jeans and black tennis shoes with white soles. Briareos, wearing a black undershirt under an army green jacket and black pants tucked into his black boots, stood a step behind her. Next to him was Tereus wearing an army green undershirt and a black jacket with blue jeans and boots nearly identical to Briareos. I stood behind them all with my hands on the railing like an excited child watching the liveliness of the city. My long sleeved white shirt served as a projector for all the flaring lights. My black sleeveless hoodie sporting a white number twenty-four on the rear upper right. My jeans and shoes were very similar to Deunan's. I watched in awe as people bustled all over the place: either with friends or alone. The bright cityscape could have been mistaken for daytime if you couldn't see the sky. Advertisements were flashing on monitors in rapid succession. Cars whirred by in the street. The city was indeed alive. I was truly fascinated by it all. I hardly even paid attention to what they were saying. It had been so long since I had been in a city that hadn't been leveled by war.

"Kickback!" I heard. I quickly turned to Briareos who began chuckling. Deunan and Tereus joined in as well. "Come back to Earth for a second."

"Stop calling me that. That was a long time ago, Briareos!" I whined.

"You wouldn't answer to anything else." Deunan said with a smile.

"Well excuse me for seeing this place for the first time after business hours." I said with folded arms. "So pub or sports bar?"

"We're going to the sports bar." Briareos said. "But we'll drop you off at daycare." Deunan and Tereus burst into laughter.

"Just remember to come get me early enough so I can give you and Deunan your sponge baths before your bedtimes." I smirked. "But I can't even do the old man 'cause he might get rusty."

"Very funny." Deunan grunted.

"Rookie's got jokes . . . ." Briareos nodded.

"I think I'd better stay out of this." Tereus sighed.

"Yeah, you don't have too many years under your belt either." Deunan smirked. "Aren't you, like, two?"

"Chronologically . . . ." Tereus mumbled. "But biologically I'm as old as Briareos."

"So he's on our side." said Briareos, placing a hand on Tereus' shoulder.

"He's my partner." I said loudly, almost to the point of yelling. "Backup follows the point man." I grabbed Tereus' arm and pulled him back on my 'side'.

"That sounds familiar." Deunan said with folded arms.

"What makes you think _you're_ on point, rookie?" Tereus smiled as we reached the base of the escalator.

"Have you seen my combat records lately?" I said cockily.

"That means next to nothing out there. You should know that, Tenari." Briareos said sternly. His fatherly instincts reared their ugly head again.

"I do, considering the mess I made at the shooting grounds earlier." I scratched my head with an uneasy smirk.

"Oh, man, that was so funny. You should have seen Yoshitsune's face." Tereus smiled widely.

"What happened?" Deunan asked. Following her remark was a loud shriek and an explosion from down the street. People were either trying to see what was happening or running away.

"Somethin' like that, more or less." I said still scratching my head. "So what do we do?"

"We could leave this to the police." Tereus said. "Much larger stuff than this has happened here before."

I had already started to ease in that direction. "Let's go, much bigger stuff has happened here so this should be nothing to you guys, right?"

"Yeah, but --" Briareos started. I didn't hear anything after that. I galloped off towards the scene weaving through people and cars that had pulled over or swerved off the road. The explosion came from what looked like a toy store. Two masked man, armed with rifles kept everyone back. I didn't know what to do next. There was no alley for me to sneak around the building and the first one I saw was back where the others were. There wasn't any time for me to run all the way back there, on top of that, I'm unarmed. Impulsion got the better of me again. I clenched my teeth and my fists as a grunt from one of the guards grabbed my attention. The other started shooting but he was quickly snuffed out too. I looked toward the source of the attack to find Briareos sniping them out from the top of a truck with a tranquilizer gun.

"Still an impetuous little kid, huh?" Briareos shook his head in disappointment as he ambled his way over to me. "They are much smarter and more organized here than out there. Running and gunning won't work too often anymore."

"I'm sorry, that was stupid of me." I sighed. Then I shrugged with a half hearted smile. "Spur of the moment I guess." I quickly dropped it when it felt awkward enough for me to be certain that he didn't return it. If he did I couldn't see it anyway.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you that rookie mistakes like that can get you killed." he said bitterly. "Grab one of their guns. Deunan and Tereus went around back, we'll rendezvous inside."

"Yes sir." I said dejectedly. He would always reprimand me like he was my father. I didn't ever mind because it was all for my benefit, but it felt sort of embarrassing this time. I suppose it was because of the relatively large crowd. I shook it off and did what I was told as I followed him into the crippled building. There were gunshots coming from the rear but other than that it was pretty still. Briareos rushed through the building being slightly cautious along the way to the back. I suppose he was in a hurry to get to Deunan. I couldn't help but groan to myself about being out-cared-for by Deunan again.

Dolls and electronics were all over the floor. Glass and electrical wiring were everywhere, too much for a toy store. As Briareos rushed by a board game aisle, another masked man popped out and took aim at him. I shot the rifle out of his hand and bashed him in the head with the butt of mine. Briareos turned quickly at the noise and slowly looked up at me. I could almost imagine the uneasy smile on his face. "Rookie mistakes like that can get you killed, dad." I said sarcastically.

"I'll give you that one." Briareos said quietly. I smiled at how embarrassed he sounded. It quickly faded when I heard clunking footsteps from behind us. I spun around quickly and saw Tereus appear from the aisle behind where the previous attacker came from. He looked at me then immediately to Briareos.

"What's it looking like?" he asked. He seemed slightly out of breath.

" . . . . Pretty quiet up here. How about you and Deunan?" Briareos paused for a second before answering. I suppose he was wondering why he didn't ask me, too.

"It's a bit heavy back there. But it's nothing Deunan can't handle." Tereus said. He sounded really confident in her and I'm starting to get sick of hearing about her. "They've got some strange machine running back there and are really desperate to protect it."

I wasn't paying attention to anything else they were saying. I scanned my surroundings, looking for the fastest way to get to where Deunan was. The shelves in the aisles were climbable and the aisles themselves weren't too far apart to run on top of the shelves at a certain speed. There could be more goons in the aisles, though, so running over aisles without looking at where I'm going in a toy store that is falling apart isn't sounding like a smart idea.

"Tenari, wake up, it's time to go." Tereus said. Briareos had already gone. He softly shook my arm in attempt to get my attention.

"I've got an idea." I mused with a trancelike look on my face, still staring at the top shelves. I whipped my head down and looked him in the eye. "I need your help."


	4. Forced Move

"What are you doing? We've got to get to Deunan and Briareos." Tereus urged. He watched as I climbed up the closest shelf. I was well aware of the situation. I mean I was brought here for a reason.

"I know, relax. Just cover me." I said. I got to the top and quickly looked around. I saw that the immediate area was clear; all the commotion was toward the back of the store. There was also that machine Tereus was talking about. _What is that,_ I asked myself. I dismissed the thought and leaped across to the next shelf to build momentum to the rest. Tereus matched my speed from the floor, looking down the aisles for anyone under me. I didn't hear him firing so I suppose everyone went to cover the back of the store. I slowed my stride as I approached the last shelf going towards the back. Tereus took cover behind it. Deunan, unarmed, had her back pressed against a support beam that had been nicked by bullets and Briareos did the same behind a shelf perpendicular to mine. "I thought you said Deunan was handling this."

"She was." Tereus replied.

"Not without a weapon." I retorted. I had to admit, this was the best opportunity for me. The worse off she is the better off I am. Yeah, it's a terrible way to think but I'm trying to get ahead in this place.

"So now what, or did you even think that far?" Tereus growled.

"Look, I'm sorry about before." I replied. "Maybe if they shoot at me I can think of something." I quieted my mind to try to better analyze my surroundings. These guys were all on one side of the store and defending this machine. I don't know what it does or what it's for. So if I can get Deunan a gun and Tereus or Briareos free by distracting some of these guys then we could have a better shot. There goes my glory. It would have been short-lived anyway. I heard a rifle reload behind me.

"Think of something!" Tereus shouted.

"I am, just-" my eyes widened when I turned to Tereus with his rifle pointed dead at me. "What are you doing? I wasn't serious!" I yelled. I was loud enough that I was sure that my not-so-hidden spot was exposed. I saw Deunan shake her head through my peripheral vision then Tereus, seeming unhappy with my lack of movement, started to shoot at me along with the terrorists. I sprinted along the shelves, hurdling over water gun after giant teddy bear after some toy I didn't recognize. I looked back to check if Deunan and Briareos had capitalized on my distraction because I was almost certain that everyone in the vicinity was shooting at me, including my own partner. I needed a fast way to get off the top of this shelf. I noticed that helmets were being shot off of racks which could only mean that I wondered into the sporting goods section: my key out of this mess. Anything with wheels would do; a bike, skates, scooters, a skateboard preferably. Then, by my outrageously great luck, I stumbled across a vintage skateboard on a rack below me and the end of this shelf.

I grabbed onto the bar connecting the racks and used it to swing down from the top of the store, away from the terrorist barrage, and grab the board without dropping this gun which stupidly did not have a strap. So I made an effort to knock it down hitting it with my gun but it didn't move. Tereus came running down the aisle still cradling his gun in a battle-ready fashion. I don't know if he still doesn't think I have a plan or not but I don't want to find out. I secured my feet on the fourth rack from the top which was also the second from the bottom and pulled the skateboard free. Along with it were a few stray bullets that just missed me and another board that was shot loose. I looked back towards Tereus who was my biggest threat at present and noticed that his eyes looked like they were rolled back into his head. I stepped off the towering rack and got a running start away from Tereus before jumping onto the skateboard, allowing me to whip the board around without losing much speed on my way back I picked up the loose board that had fallen on the floor with my free hand.

Disregarding the difficulty of skating with my hands full, I pushed a bit harder to get to Tereus quickly before he could gather himself to fire. When I grew close enough I jumped away from the board enough to pop hard on the tail, causing the skateboard to fly about wildly. I suppose reflex caused him to catch it. I was surprised that he reacted to it as soon as he did, but his DNA was taken from Briareos so expecting anything less is insane. Before I knew what I was doing, I was in position to sweep kick him. I put a bit more effort into it knowing that Tereus was probably as heavy as Briareos. To my surprise, it worked. He fell flat on his back with a thud. And even further, he dropped his gun but he held onto the skateboard. Whatever is happening to him has got to be serious because this should never be this easy. I grabbed his rifle, which did have a strap, and hung it over my shoulder. I took the other board and rolled off, trying to gather as much as I could through all the toys blocking my way from seeing into the open area. Deunan was still behind the support beam and Briareos had started to advance because he was out of my limited vision.

There wasn't much I can do on this board but skate around and draw their fire. Deunan's still unarmed and almost completely out of this equation. I don't know what Briareos is going to do, even less where he is. I dropped my shoulder and sighed. _But Deunan does,_ I thought. I feel as though I would much rather shoot myself in the foot than bring her a gun. I could give her the gun Tereus used with half the ammo used up, but I know I can't. If something went wrong then I would definitely blame myself for it. My ego and better judgment were indeed clashing. _I know what I've got to do._

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don't fret. I know this was short. But this felt like the best chapter ending cliffhanger. I have to stop it here but trust and believe I am working on chapter 5 as we speak (technically we're not speaking but you get it). So review it and chapter 5 is on the way. It may even be up by Monday but no later than the end of next week.


	5. Pull Out

I pushed harder than I think I ever had before. The glass and wires scattered about the floor continually rattled my board and made it difficult to get both feet on. Before I cleared the opening close to the straight shot to Deunan I fired a few rounds in the air, trying to draw attention to my position again. I used the railing connecting the racks to slingshot myself in the right direction. As I expected, I'm the center of attention. Luckily I gained enough speed to be almost certain of not getting hit. As I rapidly approached the support beam Deunan looked me squarely in the eyes as if she were looking through me. I gave her a serious glare back as I rotated the rifle in my hand to a position where she could get a hand on it without dropping it. The time before this exchange seemed to linger, giving me too much opportunity to think about reconsidering. This newfound hostile attitude was paradoxical to my whole personality. I don't mind being second best but just hearing about how Deunan is this and Deunan is that pisses me off. But this isn't about me. I was brought here to protect Olympus. I have to put my emotions aside.

Deunan reached out for the rifle and I handed it to her. The barrage of bullets followed me past the support beam and into the next set of shelves where Briareos was before I lost sight of him. This section was full of nothing but pink girly stuff. I stood out tremendously wearing a black hoodie and on top of that, I hate girly stuff. I kept myself as far away from the open area as I could. I came to a slowed stop and stepped off the board. I pressed myself against the rear wall of the building and saw Briareos standing as close to the machine as possible without being spotted. "Any ideas?" I asked.

"No, but this machine may be doing something to bioroids considering how Tereus is acting." Briareos replied. "He wouldn't shoot at a member of ES.W.A.T. unless he had distinct orders to. And even though opportunity never presented itself before, Tereus would never leave Deunan back here alone unarmed."

"How do you know?" I asked. "She may have told him to go on ahead." I wasn't disagreeing I already had an idea as to why; I just wanted to hear him say it.

"I know because I wouldn't leave her." Briareos said with absolute certainty.

"Aw, old people love." I smirked.

"Shut up, Kickback." he retaliated.

"Come on grandpa, we've got to go help your wife." I chuckled softly.

"She- she's not my wife." Briareos stammered bashfully.

"Not yet." I said with a continually growing smile. "When are you going to pop the question?"

"Tonight at my surprise party." Briareos grumbled. "If there still is one."

"How do you know about your own surprise party?" I jogged briskly towards him and stood behind so that I wouldn't be seen. "Nevermind… So what do you want to do?"

"Climb on the machine and hold your ground up there. If I'm right then these guys are bioroids being controlled by this machine so I don't think they'll try to shoot at it. I'll stay down here and watch out for Tereus for you since he's the biggest threat." Briareos said. He reloaded his rifle and readied himself to go out into the barrage of bullets.

"All right. Let's do it." I replied. I started to find any type of indentation I could use to get on top of this thing. Then I froze in mid-climb. "Hey, why wasn't I invited to the party?"

"You're with us so you're going. Remember you just got here." Briareos said, annoyance was clear in his voice.

"Right, got it." I said with an uneasy smile as I continued up the machine. I looked down to secure my foot on something when I noticed that there were electrical wires sprouting out of the back of it and branched out. So those wires all over the floor are connected to this. '_How much power does this thing need?_' I asked myself. A better question would definitely be how many bioroids are in range of this thing. There's no telling what's going on outside the store. I quickly scurried up the immense machine and lay prone on top of it. I had to be at least fifteen feet above ground. I shimmied to the edge to get a look at what was going on below and of course, Deunan was handling it like the warrior I always hear about. I had to admit, I was regretting giving her my gun and not Tereus'. So trying to keep my mind off of competition I figured if I can't beat her, join her. I readied my rifle in a sniper position. I didn't have a scope so I had to go by my own eyes. I didn't go for any kills because these are innocent people so dominant hands and feet would have to do. With single rounds I quickly shot the rifles out of the hands of the bioroids closest to the machine which gave Briareos some room to move. I figured that my work was finished until Tereus revealed himself again. I absently watched as Deunan and Briareos gracefully dispatched the rest of the opposing bioroids, with as little gunfire as possible, while keeping an eye out for my rouge partner. As expected, it didn't take too long. I rolled over and sat on the edge of the machine. My right knee was against my chest and my left leg was dangling over the edge. My rifle was in my right hand, still readied if Tereus made a surprise attack; my left was behind me for support.

"You see anything from up there?" Deunan yelled.

"No." I yelled back. "You killed everything." I said with a smile, a genuine smile surprisingly.

"Good job disarming those three near me." Briareos said loudly. He really didn't need to yell.

"It was nothing." I shrugged. "Really." I quickly glanced to Deunan who smiled softly. I hated felling all this scorn towards her but being bested and brushed to the side by or because of her was irritating. Although, I just got here and haven't really had an opportunity to do anything on my own yet anyway. Tereus and I haven't had our own assignment yet. So it's not that she's in my face saying, 'I'm better than you and everyone knows it and I'm going to show you,' I just didn't get my chance to show everyone what I'm made of. So until then I don't have any reason to act like a spoiled child, which is exactly how I'm acting. So I did the mature thing and returned the smile and calmly gestured toward the toy shelf on the opposing side of the open area. "Tereus is coming." I said quietly. Almost immediately Tereus, in a screaming rush, burst from behind the shelf towards Briareos, the closest one to him. Briareos delivered a swift blow to his stomach which I am sure would have knocked him out. The shot made me cringe a bit.

"You think that was a bit much?" Briareos asked as Tereus melted to the floor. He scooped him up and draped him over his shoulder.

"No." Deunan said casually.

"Not at all." I added, still in a fully cringed position. With that I heard about three or four sets of crunching footsteps. I stood up to see if more bioroids were on the way but thankfully it was an ES.W.A.T. support team. They rushed around the corner and assessed the area, checking vitals of the downed bioroids. "Well boys and girls, it looks like were wrapping up our piece of what I'm sure will be an interesting event." I said as I slid off the machine and drug the rifle behind me by its strap as I approached the soon-to-be engaged couple.

"You're such a baby." Briareos said.

"What?" I asked.

"I can tell you were a destructive child. Look at you dragging your toys behind you." he chuckled.

I lowered my brow, dropped the rifle strap and I started for the entrance to the store leaving roars of laughter in my wake. I picked up the skateboard I used against Tereus on the way out and smiled. "I can't put up with those two forever." I thought aloud as medical staff and police investigators passed me into the crime scene. Lance approached me as I stepped out from the bent beams and small flames in the front of the store.

"What happened in there?" he asked with a clipboard in his hand and a pen behind his ear.

"Doing paperwork, Lance?" I smiled as I dropped the skateboard in my hand placing my right foot on the tail end.

"Very funny." Lanced grunted.

"There was this huge machine in the back that seemed to influence bioroids. It even got a hold on Tereus." I replied as I placed my left foot just behind the front bolts.

"Where is he?" Lance asked as he watched my feet. I suppose he was waiting for me to do a trick or something on the board.

"Briareos has him. He just knocked the wind out of him, he's fine." I placed my right toe on the edge of the tail.

"You know how to use that old thing?" Lance asked.

"I don't know much but it's not hard." I said as I ollied about three inches off of the ground. "That's about all I could do. I picked up skateboarding right before I went off on first platoon." Briareos and Deunan approached from behind. Deunan stopped beside me; Briareos took Tereus to a medical car.

"Look's like we've got a head-scratcher ladies and gentlemen." Lance said as he reached for the pen behind his ear.

Deunan folded her arms and looked at me. "Stuff like this usually requires some recon. And I've yet to be involved in recon that I've hadn't fired a shot in."

I smirked and gave her a stern look. "Let the competition begin."


	6. Sleepy Soiree

Everyone in the sports bar was in an uproar. Televisions were basically muted under all the noise. Smiles and drinks were everywhere you turned. The sober got started to get drunk and the drunk got even more tipsy. Everyone crowded around giving hugs, handshakes, high fives and congratulations. I, on the other hand, lounged at a corner table with a pretty size-able glass full of some light blue juice whose flavor I didn't know the name of. I leaned my chair back on its two rear legs and secured one foot on the floor for extra support. My other foot was pressed against the post under the table.

After the incident in the city square, Briareos' party was almost canceled but I guess they insisted on having his party. After all he was announcing his engagement to Deunan. Speaking of which, I've never seen such a tough woman cry before. I don't even remember the last time I cried, but I had to admit when she started I got a bit choked up. She did look nice, wearing a white spaghetti-strapped top and a blue skirt that stopped about 4 inches from her knees that seemed to fit just right and some blue heels. I took a lazy sip of my juice. All my energy and excitement were gone from the fight in the toy store. I almost didn't make it back to my house to change. I just showered and put on a white shirt, some jeans that were cut along both hems on the bottom with a light brown sewn belt, the same shoes and an olive green bomber jacket. I placed my glass back on the table before a widely grinning Hitomi, wearing a long, flowing, sleeveless red dress under some kind of white fur half vest sporting pearl earrings and a matching necklace.

"Your age doesn't really match your wardrobe. You've got a very old school style." she said with a smile, walking briskly up to my table.

"I appreciate how they dressed in the early 21st century. The style came back a few times and it may just come back again." I said confidently. "I don't want to sound conceited but I think I look pretty good in these kind of clothes."

"You're right, you do. This look suits you." Hitomi said, she still held that same smile.

"Thank you. I'm glad you think so." I said with an accomplished smile. She gave me my first complement on my clothes since I've been here. "I do like how Deunan dresses, minus all the skirts, so I may ask her to go shopping with me one day."

"I think that'll be good for the both of you. I know she's not your partner but she's the only other female in ES.W.A.T.. You two should bond a bit." she took a seat across from me and folded her hands on the table.

"You think so?" I said. I cut my eyes toward the swarm of people that surrounded Deunan and Briareos, catching a few glimpses of Deunan through the crowd.

"It'd be a nice change of pace." Hitomi doesn't seem to ever stop smiling when she's talking to people. I started to wonder if she was smiling when I had my arm wrapped around her neck in the infirmary. "So why are you over here all by yourself?" she asked.

"I was wondering when you'd ask me that," I said softly. "I'm kinda tired. Plus, I've got to be at HQ tomorrow for the briefing to find out about this bioroid controlling machine and who could potentially be behind it."

"I've heard about that. It's all pretty strange." Hitomi said, that smile of hers finally faded. "I heard it got a hold of Tereus."

"Yeah, it did. They're checking him out now." I said, dropping my chair's front legs to the floor.

"Don't let it bother you, we've got a great medical and technical staff here. You have nothing to worry about." Hitomi's smile returned again. "So what do you think about Deunan and Briareos?"

"I already knew." I said slowly. "Briareos told me earlier."

"Well aren't you excited?" she asked.

"Not really, it was only a matter of time." I replied. Then it dawned on me how much of a wet blanket I sounded like. "I'm not trying to rain on the parade it's just that I've known about those two since before they were even here. Since they're still together the only thing left for them to do is to get married."

"You're right, but it's still exciting. I can't wait for their wedding." Hitomi beamed. I couldn't help but smile. You would think _she _was the one about to be married.

"It will be interesting." I smiled.

"Hey Hitomi, come here for a minute." someone called from the multitude.

"Be right there." she replied. She looked back at me with a pitiful smile, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Cheer up, Tenari. You'll find someone some day."

". . . .Wait, this isn't because of Deunan, I'm happy for them just not surprised." I said defensively. "That, and I don't feel like partying. I actually think I should be with Tereus finding out what happened to him and probably getting more acquainted."

"You're about your business aren't you?" Hitomi asked, the pitied look on her face was gone but the friendly smile remained.

"I try to be." I nodded as I took another sip of my blue juice.

"I understand. Tereus is your partner and your life is in his hands. Wanting to spend time to get to know each other is a good idea." she said. "Well, Tenari, it was nice talking to you but apparently I'm needed."

"All right. Thanks for worrying about me." I replied. Then I paused for a second. "Hey Hitomi?"

"Yes?" she turned.

"Why are you dressed like that?" I asked.

"I just arrived back from a political banquet." she said before she turned and disappeared into the crowd. I sighed as she left, looking up at the dim ceiling and leaning my chair back again. Although I was over here by myself I did want to be with everyone else. Well I wanted everyone else to come over here. I was bored and if I had gone over there then someone would offer me a drink and then someone would make fun of me being a kid after I refused the drink and then I'd end up drinking it and the rest of the bar. I've got to be at HQ tomorrow and being hung over is not part of the plan. I ran my free hand through my hair as I drug my finger around the rim of my glass.

"Been drinking, Kickback?" said Briareos' voice. "You know we have to be at HQ tomorrow morning."

"No, I'm not drinking. I'm off by myself so I won't drink." I said sluggishly.

". . . . I guess you're right, you're too stubborn to turn down a challenge." he said after a short pause.

"I'm a little tired anyway. I think I might get ready to go back home." I said. I kept my hand in my hair but dropped my foot from the table base along with the front legs on my chair.

"All right. Lance said he wanted to see you too so make your rounds and at least show your face before you leave." Briareos said. I felt like I was being ordered around again but I didn't care.

"Okay, I will." I nodded. He returned it and started to walk off. "Hey, congratulations." I yelled after him, lazily rolling my head in his direction and resting it on my shoulder.

"Thanks." he yelled back with a wave. I let off a long sigh and placed my feet on the table. I didn't even feel like leaving. I just want some sleep. I should go to see Tereus before I go home and before it gets too late. I reached for my helmet in the chair next to me and stood up fairly slowly before trudging toward and through the crowd. I placed my hand on Deunan's shoulder as I approached her.

"I'm about to leave. I'll see you and Briareos tomorrow morning." I slurred. I hope she understood me. I didn't feel like repeating myself.

Deunan chuckled. "Tired after the first day on the job, huh?" I looked at her with a look that just screamed 'don't bother me.' She laughed again. "Go on, get out of here." she said. She turned me towards the door and gave me a small push. I found myself stumbling into Lance who looked like he was about to drink one too many.

"Tenari, hey, I've been looking for you." he said. His breath was putrid to say the least. "Tereus is okay now, you can go see him. He, actually, requested that you come see him."

"That's where I was going. So I'm going to leave and I'll see you tomorrow morning." I rushed. I quickly tiptoed through and around the large groups of people and placed my helmet on as I reached the door. I jogged to my bike to keep me awake. I draped my leg over the seat and inserted the key in the ignition. I started the bike and was on my way to the Bioroid care center.

* * *

Yeah, Kind of a filler chapter I know but I finished this in two days and it was long enough to keep the chapter length consistent. Look out for the next chapter. I might be a bit late because school and applying for college and loans and finishing unfinished stories is kicking my butt so I can almost promise no less than a week but no more than a month. But don't worry this is the most entertaining fic I've written so I definitely won't give up on this. So stay tuned.


	7. Intensive Care Unit

Hey everyone, happy belated Thanksgiving. Just thought that I should say that this was originally one humongous chapter but for the sake of chapter length consistency, I cut it in half. So if it seems like it ended awkwardly then just pick it up on the next chapter. Or if you're one of those really strict chapter organization appreciating people and don't like awkward chapters then just copy and paste this and the next chapter together in a word processor and read them like that. It'll flow better. Oh and special thanks to **Ominae** for reviewing pretty much every chapter. Sorry for not recognizing you earlier and the action is definitely coming I promise. Oh and to whom it may concern, I finally grasped the concept of using subordinate clauses : ). So here it is. Chapter 7.

I almost got into about fourteen accidents on my way here, fighting sleep every inch of the way. The sun setting wasn't making anything easier. The dimly lit dungeon that was the parking garage seemed to make my eyelids staggeringly heavy. I pulled into the space where I had parked earlier today and placed my feet firmly on the ground. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I unstrapped my helmet and pulled it back to the top of my head. As I put my kickstand down, my eyes lingered to a blue wall. Random, trivial thoughts rushed through my head like an angry mob, torches and all. Completely unnecessary questions appeared like what was I going to wear tomorrow or what should I wear to sleep tonight.

_I don't have much choice but to wear my uniform tomorrow. What I'll wear after work really depends on what I'm doing. Tonight I suppose I'll just throw on some pajama pants and a tanktop, _I thought. _I can't wait to get to bed. My bed is, like, the best bed ever. I've got one of those gigantic round beds, too. I love my new place. It's like my whole house is a loft; everything is brown and blue and is accented by the city skyline behind it. I wonder if Deunan's house looks better than mine. She does live right down the street from me. I've never been to her house yet though. Come to think of it, I've never seen Briareos or Tereus' houses yet either. I wonder what they drive. I heard Deunan rides motorcycles like I do. Maybe we can go ride somewhere together, probably no time soon, though, considering wedding planning and honeymooning and this thing with that bioroid machine, so maybe she can pencil me in sometime next year. This wedding is going to be so great. It could be like one of those superhero weddings where something happens right in the middle. They'll probably wear their ES.W.A.T. gear under their suit and dress. I probably will too and so will Tereus. I wonder what that would look like . . . ? _

I chuckled to myself imagining those clunky collars and shoulder pads bulging through our clothes and even more at us trying to keep them tucked away. Then I came back to the realization that I was laughing at a wall with my head titled to the side and my helmet just barely on. I took a deep breath and retreated from my bike and towards the elevator. The elevator dinged as it lowered to my floor and opened revealing Yoshitsune nearly sprinting out of the door and coming to a screeching halt when he recognized me.

"Tenari, is the party over yet?" he asked hurriedly.

"Not hardly. Briareos just asked Deunan to marry him about twenty minutes ago." I said as I clumsily backed into the elevator, holding the door open.

"Is Hitomi still there?" Yoshitsune asked a bit slower.

"She should be." I replied as I flexed from the door attempting to close.

He paused briefly and smiled. "Briareos asked Deunan to marry him?" Yoshitsune's hasty tone returned.

". . . Yeah." I breathed, just barely keeping my eyes open. The conversation started to lull me asleep.

"Have you been drinking?" he smirked.

"No, I'm tired. I'm only here to check on Tereus." I lifted the visor on my helmet and pulled it from my head, letting it hang limply from my right hand. My head felt like it was tilting to the side again.

"It can't wait until tomorrow?" he said with a bright look in his eye. I guess he feels more comfortable around me when I'm not in a landmate.

"Stop asking me all these questions." I whined.

"Okay, I'll let you get to your visit." he replied. "He's on the fourth floor." I nodded slowly and let the door slide closed, watching him turn and nearly sprint to his car. My hand dragged to the four button on the panel, hitting every button in the path of it and a few out of it. I leaned back against the rear wall of the elevator as it ascended, stopped on the first floor and opened its doors. I folded my arms and just stared at the scenery. This floor looked empty except for the occasional fake plant and lab-coated scientist making his way by. The next floor was the same I suppose. I was half asleep on this floor. Now my stare out of the door looked like more of a lazy one-eyed glare. If I could see myself, I would most definitely look my drunkest now. I made it to the fourth floor, the hospital suite, and trudged down the white hall until I saw either him or his name by a door. Clipboard panels were everywhere, small lights were flashing here and there and were making me dizzy. I was tempted to put my helmet back on and use my unwisely, yet situationally appropriate, tinted visor to block out all the access light.

_I should stop being cheap and use the extra money to get one of those visors that change according to the light. I've had the same visor for some years now. I've broken my helmets a few times but never my visor so I keep it because I think it's lucky._ I thought. I sighed because I was explaining myself to myself. _I am a nut job when I'm tired, _I thought and continued to walk on, my head slightly lowered. I heard a door slide open and shut from the left and then some light footsteps.

"Deunan." they said. I raised an eyebrow and looked around for anyone else.

"I'm sorry, you've got the wrong person." I said with a friendly smile, knowing that deep down I hated not having my own identity yet. I looked the source of the voice in the eye and raised my eyebrow again. "Nike?"

"Tenari, I'm sorry. You look just like Deunan from the eyes up." Nike smiled. "I take it that you're here to see Tereus?"

"Mmhmm." I mumbled.

"You look tired." Nike snickered.

"You're the first one to not call me drunk." I replied.

"Why would you be drunk?" she asked.

"I just came from Briareos and Deunan's engagement announcement party thing." I sighed, brushing my hair out of my face with my free hand. It was all for naught because it fell right back into my face.

"They're finally getting married?" she asked.

"Mmhmm." I mumbled again. "So is Tereus cleared for visitors, because if he isn't then I'm going home to sleep."

"Yes, we ran all the tests we could on him already so you can see him now. He's actually been expecting you." Nike replied.

"All right, thanks." I yawned, stumbling my way into Tereus' room. He was sitting up in his bed facing away from me wearing just a pair of black sweatpants. His wasn't as muscular as I thought he would be, he's just big like Briareos. His skin looked soft, minus the pretty big spotty crescent shaped birthmark behind his left shoulder. I probably would've been all blushy and embarrassed if I wasn't so tired. "Hey." I grunted. Tereus turned and faced me with a smile.

"Hey." he said happily. "Sorry about shooting at you earlier, I really don't know what came over me."

"We're still trying to figure that out." I replied.

"Did you just come from Deunan and Briareos' party? You look really tired." Tereus chuckled.

"No I'm not drunk." I grumbled. ". . . Wait, I am tired. I thought you were going to say I look drunk like everyone else."

"You don't seem like someone who'd get drunk." Tereus said.

"I'm not. I hate the way alcohol tastes." I jammed my hands into my pockets.

"You're such a kid." Tereus chuckled.

"Excuse me?" I tried to sound insulted but it came out as more of drunken slur, on top of that, I struggled to get my eyes to stay open.

"You do sound drunk though." Tereus said, his smile remained.

"Thank you," I replied clearly. I leaned against the nearest wall and let my helmet slide out of my hand and onto the floor with a loud crack.

"If you're so tired, why'd you go out of your way to come here? You could have stopped by tomorrow." Tereus rested his hands on his thighs.

"You're my partner. I've got to look out for you." I sighed. I looked up at the ceiling. "Besides, tomorrow we'll have our hands full with the whole investigation tying up most of the day. I might not have had a chance to stop by."

"Well thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it." Tereus nodded. "But how do you know that the machine isn't still affecting me? That little outburst earlier today might have been because of that machine."

"I'm not worried. Believe it or not, my reflexes are sharper when I'm tired." I shook my head slowly. "I don't like being messed with when I'm tired."

"Really?" Tereus said leerily.

"Don't throw that pen at me." I said, clearly noting that he was too far away to try to attack me and the projectile most likely to be thrown at me from his bed would either be a pen, a stray button, a mint or some other office desk item.

"Wow, you're good." Tereus said showing me the pen he was about to throw.

"I'm so tired." I shook my head slowly.

"What made you so tired?" Tereus asked. "The toy store thing wasn't _that_ intense, was it?"

"No, I can't do something like that and remain idle for too long or I'll get tired." I still was slowly shaking my head from my last statement. "I just sat around at Briareos and Deunan's party so I wouldn't be competitioned into drinking."

"'Competitoned?'" Tereus lifted an eyebrow.

"'Kickback come have a drink with us,' someone will say. Then someone else, 'Oh she won't drink it, she's still a kid. She's probably not old enough anyway.'" I mimicked. "Then I get angry and drink the whole bar. Then Briareos, or even worse Deunan, will have to carry me home. Then I'll end up with a major hangover during the briefing tomorrow, that is, if I don't oversleep and completely miss it."

"Well then I guess you made the wisest decision." he said.

"I guess." I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. "So, can you go to the briefing tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I get released tomorrow morning but I'm on probation until my test results come back so I may not be able to go on active duty." Tereus said.

". . . . So who do I partner up with while you're on probation?" I asked.

"I don't know. Either someone else without a partner or Lance just might put you with Deunan for a while." Tereus said. I sighed and dropped my head on my shoulder. Tereus laughed.

"Don't play with my emotions like that." I grinned.

"I was just kidding. Deunan refuses to partner up with anyone but Briareos. When he was hurt in an explosion a year back they put Deunan and I together. It's funny now that I look back on it but it wasn't a very easy transition." Tereus shook his head with a small smile.

I moved to the chair next to his bed. I had a feeling that this would end up as a long story. "So what happened?"

Yeah I know, pretty uneventful ending. But fret not. The next chapter picks up directly after I mean like Tereus' reply is the first thing said in the next chapter. And as for making my chapters consistent, this still ended up as my longest chapter by far. Maybe because I'm talking to you guys too much. But it's all good.


	8. Intensive Care Unit part 2

All right now firstly let me start off with

**Spoiler Alert! If you haven't seen Appleseed 2 and don't want the whole movie spoiled skip to the next chapter!**

Although it wasn't necessary, sometimes people like me read fanfics of shows, games or movies that they've never seen before or have only half watched or played and even through the spoiler alert read on and get upset when what was read happens in the game, movie or show, or even worse when you get confused as to what really happens. So if you're like me and don't want to spoil this good movie that you really should've seen already (you can find it on youtube) then just skip this chapter. But I digress, time for part II.

Tereus turned completely around to face me and took a deep breath. "Well our first assignment together, if you can even call it that, was when some guy went crazy in a construction landmate. Deunan did all the work, I just pointed to a crane button and shot at the guys feet in my landmate. She shut down the construction landmate and was about to leave because it was her day off. So lance came out of a WASP and I landed the landmate and opened the cockpit. When she saw my face, I knew she hated me. I didn't know why until that Friday night at Hitomi's birthday party when I met Briareos for the first time. Briareos was out of the hospital and he was doing fine but he wanted to partner up with a friend of his, a cyborg named Aeacus, the guy you replaced. So that left me as her partner. She wasn't happy so she stormed off down some steps and slipped in her heels."

"What?" I gasped then I giggled. "Deunan's not perfect?"

"Very funny" Tereus smiled. "So she sat down at a table by herself and took this bottle of what I guess was beer to the head. I decided to go talk to her, you know, to try to get back on the right foot with her. And she told me she didn't want to be my partner because she gets confused when she's with me."

"She was confused because she was drinking." I interrupted.

"Anyway," he continued. "after that I just left her alone. She apologized the next day and she started to trust me. Then the Halcon incident started and Aeacus was infected and basically did what I did earlier except it was much more extreme. And it was right in the middle of a world leaders' conference. He and Briareos fought it out and Briareos killed him in self defense. A few days after his funeral, the three of us went out and were planning to go to a pub or a sports bar. We got down the escalator and in almost the same spot we were in when the toy store exploded did a car come barreling into Briareos. He flipped the car after it drove him back into a advertisement screen, setting off some nanomachines planted in him by Dr. Kestner that activate when his adrenaline reached a certain level. So those nanomachines took control of him. He attacked Deunan but I nearly separated my shoulder trying to protect her."

"How noble." I scoffed sarcastically. "Deunan probably would've used her ninja powers to- -"

"Tenari!" Tereus sighed.

"Sorry. Continue." I replied.

"So he attacked Deunan and I and hacked into the system and take control of the satellites Olympus just merged with about a minute before." Tereus said.

"So everyone in Olympus with a connexus on them at the moment Kestner activated the satellites were being controlled?" I asked. This story was interesting. I've heard bits and pieces of the Halcon incident when I got here, mostly that Deunan saved the day again just like in the human genocide attempt. But, like that story I've never heard the whole thing.

"Right." Tereus answered. "Before, robotic doves transmitted the frequency that set off only the connexus' nearby. So, because of what Briareos did he was quarantined. I don't know too much about what happened to him but he asked that Deunan not see him while he was in the isolation ward so she came to see me. The nurse was still doing some minor stuff like checking my vitals and was about to bandage up my shoulder when Deunan offered to do it herself. She saw the birthmark I got from Briareos' DNA behind my shoulder and got a bit emotional. Shortly after that, Briareos and Hitomi broke out of the hospital. At that point I had orders to capture him dead or alive because he was classified as a fugitive so I was put in charge of a search team to find him.

"So I used our shared intuition to look for him and found him on a roof in the city and tried to peacefully take him in when the nanomachines took control of him again. Then Deunan swooped in on a landmate and, after a short struggle, stabbed him in the neck with a syringe full of this antidote from Yoshi to stabilize him. He returned back to normal and they had their little moment. I think I ruined it when I told Deunan that I had to take Briareos in."

"Why'd you do that?" I asked with a small smile.

"It. . . it made me feel. . . a bit jealous." he said quietly.

"Aw, Tereus. You'll find somebody. I promise." I smiled, my elbow rested on the arm rest and my face was cupped in my hand. "Wait, aren't you not supposed to feel jealousy?"

"No, but my genes came from Briareos so not many exceptions that I find about my being a bioroid surprise me too much anymore." Tereus shrugged. "I think my negative emotions were suppressed not removed, you know, since I'm a combat bioroid. But I've never been angry or hated people and I wasn't jealous enough to act rashly against anyone. I'm not violent, only when I need to be."

"Neither is Briareos." I said. "But you're right, you've come from superman himself so maybe you're more human than you think, which would explain why you were jealous of the two of them."

"No I wasn't jealous because of them. I was jealous because . . . well. . . , because . . . ." Tereus stammered.

". . . Because you liked Deunan and you were jealous because Briareos got there first." I said quietly, staring at a loose thread on my shoe.

"Yeah." he nodded. "And what fueled the fire was that I had my body and he didn't."

"That was probably why she didn't want to be your partner in the beginning. You look the way he did before his body was damaged so you being around her may have lead to her liking you because you basically are what she lost in Briareos; flesh and blood. That's why she said she gets confused when she's with you." I rationalized. "Do you still feel that way?" I asked. I looked at his eyes as he stared at the floor.

"Sometimes. Only when I think about the situation a year ago." he said softly. "I got to hold her one time and I'll never forget what that felt like, even though it was only for a moment and in the heat of battle. Her frame is so small but so firm and strong and- -" he looked up at me and froze. I couldn't help but be angry, my own partner can't even stop talking about her. I already know she's great, I already know she's beautiful, I already know she's perfect. I feel like everyone is just rubbing this in my face now. "I'm sorry, I know you don't like hearing about Deunan too much."

"No, it's not that I don't like hearing about her, it's because hearing about how great she is puts a lot pressure on me because I know I'll be expected to match her or surpass her and if I don't then I'm just another average female soldier. When I was out in the field, I was by myself. I didn't have anyone I had to compete with. I wasn't compared with anyone out there, it was just me. Now if I don't pretty much save the universe then I'm just Deunan's shadow or even worse they'll say, 'Oh I didn't know there was a second female in ES.W.A.T.'." I sighed. It felt good to finally have told someone how I felt. And I don't think I could've told anyone better than Tereus. He is my partner after all.

"I didn't know you felt that way. I thought that it only made you mad because you're supposed to be a superhero soldier and you weren't getting acknowledged because of Deunan." Tereus said, looking me squarely in the eyes I looked up at him and smiled.

"I may be a kid but I'm not arrogant." I paused. "Well maybe a little."

"We'll get along just fine, Tenari." Tereus smiled brightly. "But I think you should get back home, it's getting late." he said as he stood up.

I stood slowly, stretching as I rose. "Yeah, you woke me up a bit so I should be able to get home a bit safer than I did to get here." I replied with a wide yawn.

"Please do. We've just started to bond. I don't want anything to happen to you before we even do any real active duty together." Tereus said as he started for the door. I followed him, stopping at the door. "Thanks for listening. You're the first person I've ever told about how I feel about Deunan."

"You're the first person I've ever told about how _I _feel about Deunan." I smiled. There was an awkward silence for about a moment and a half.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow." Tereus said.

"Yeah." I nodded as I walked out. I froze and turned around and saw Tereus holding my helmet in his hand.

"See? This is exactly why you need to be home." he smirked, tossing it to me almost effortlessly.

"That's exactly where I'm going," I said as I caught it and rotated it back into my right hand "Thanks." I turned and started back down the hall as I heard his door slide closed again. I approached the elevator and pushed the button for the parking garage. I reached for the straps inside my helmet and put it halfway on, resting it on the top of my head. I dropped my hands back to my sides but flinched at a sharp pain on my left hand between my thumb and index finger. I investigated the damage and noticed a minor cut. I sighed at the only possible cause.

"I broke my visor."


	9. Fire and Ice

Deunan, Briareos, Lance, Tereus and I all gathered around Yoshitsune as he displayed his research on the major components of the machine in the toy store on a holographic screen on the far side of the room. Everyone had on their ES.W.A.T. jackets; Deunan, Tereus, Briareos and I wore our training suits under ours.

"What we have here are remote receptors that transmit a signal similar to the original D-Tank signal that was designed to deactivate bioroids by setting off nanomachines that disabled the body from undergoing the life extension process. The elders, when they changed D-Tank's function to disable human reproductive functions, set aside the program to activate it the way it was originally designed to. Someone got a hold to those files and some from the old Gaia mainframe. Some of these parts are similar to those used in Gaia's operating system as well. If you put those and some intermediate technical and tinkering skills together, you've got a full blown bioroid-type puppetmaster effect." he said. "We also picked up some small signal flares that were similar to those emitted by the machine all over Olympus midday yesterday. They, like the signals from the machine, can tamper with bioroid genetic makeup."

"So if they can alter their emotions then there is no telling what else they can do." Lance said.

"So that explains why I had that random outburst yesterday." Tereus said, folding his arms thoughtfully.

"It also explains why I was so cautious about the landmates when Tenari was practicing and why Hitomi's been so chipper lately." Yoshitsune said.

"But wasn't D-tank's control over Bioroids negated when the data from appleseed was used on them?" Deunan asked.

"No, they only were given the ability to reproduce sexually so they wouldn't have to undergo the life extension process." Yoshitsune said. "Luckily the Prime Minister has been quiet lately. Regardless she should be under constant watch by non-bioroid ES.W.A.T. soldiers and shouldn't be called upon to make any substantial decisions."

"So it seems like we have no choice but to temporarily suspend all bioroid soldiers." Lance shook his head. I looked up at Tereus who was already looking down at me. "Do we have any leads as to who could be behind this?"

"Yes and no. Everyone involved with General Uranus' coup de tat is a suspect and they're all still serving jail time. The only other possibility is if there was an inside man who's still out there." Yoshitsune said. "Every signal had its own individual source so I can't pinpoint one over another so whoever is doing this has help."

"Well, until we can work something out, Briareos you lead the team watching over the Prime Minister. Deunan, you and Tenari are partners for right now." Lance said, looking at Deunan in case she was going to oppose it. The rest of the room turned to her too.

"It's fine, I won't throw a fit again. I'm okay with it this time." Deunan said.

"How 'bout you Tenari?" Lance asked, Deunan's crowd turned to me.

"I'm fine with it." I shrugged. "It could be fun."

"All right. You two stand by for further orders." Lance said. "Tereus, you're off the mission. Go home and get some rest." he said as he left the room.

"Yes sir." Tereus replied weakly.

"Well, looks like I'm getting what I asked for." I sighed, fingering at my sides for pockets to dig my hands into. "Rise and shine or crash and burn."

"Yeah, well you two just don't kill each other." Briareos said as he made his way out of the room.

"Oh, we won't." Deunan said, giving me a slightly intimidating glance as she followed Briareos out. I won't lie, I did feel a bit uneasy but my pride wouldn't let that slide. I couldn't think of anything smart to reply with at that moment so I returned her glare with one of my own and kept it on her until she had left my plane of vision. When she did, I sighed and placed my forearm on my former partners shoulder and laid my head onto it.

"Well you two seem to be getting along." Yoshitsune said as he pressed a button on a nearby remote, turning his display off.

I lifted my head up and looked Yoshitsune in the eye. "I think she was just trying to 'put me in my place'. I'm not easily intimidated." I said.

"If I didn't know any better I would've thought you two were staring at yourselves in the mirror." he replied as he folded his arms and leaned against the screen he used. "You two look so much alike that it's uncanny. If you were calm and passive then I would think that you were a bioroid."

"I'm definitely positive that I'm a hundred percent human." I said, resting my head back on my forearm.

**(A/N: a hundred sounds a lot better than it reads...)**

"Maybe Colonel Knute had an ex-wife or something." Tereus shrugged, my head bobbed appropriately.

"Nope, I'm younger than Deunan, if her father had another daughter she might have known about it. On top of that, Colonel Knute's not my dad. My father died in combat while my mother was about seven or eight months pregnant." I said. "Actually, I knew Colonel Knute. I met him when I was a kid. Well, come to think of it, I met Deunan a lot earlier than I thought. I met her when I was five."

"I always thought you were a military brat." Tereus said.

"No, I wasn't. I was a sheltered child. My brother wanted me to be a military brat but my mom wouldn't have it." I snorted. "He actually was in ES.W.A.T. but was K.I.A."

"Sorry to hear that." Yoshitsune said softly. "What was his name?"

"Kudo." I said.

"You're Kudo's sister?" Yoshitsune said. "You two look nothing alike."

"He took after our father and I took after our mother but we both have our fathers' eyes." I said. ". . . But everything I know I learned from him; he was the soldier. I hadn't even seen a gun until I was ten, I hadn't shot a gun until I was sixteen, I wasn't any good on the battlefield until just before my eighteenth birthday and I don't think I've ever killed anybody."

"So what brought about the change?" Tereus asked.

"I wanted to fight with Kudo. So I just left when I was thirteen. I hung out around military camps, ran obstacle courses and when I was seventeen got placed into first platoon because Kudo knew I was out on my own and asked someone to look out for me if they saw me." I said.

"That's pretty tough going out on your own like that." Tereus said.

"Yeah, well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I said, pushing off of his shoulder. "But enough about me. I've got to go train. Are you sticking around or are you just going to leave?" I asked, slowly backing towards the door.

"I'll stay," he said. "I don't have too much else to do today."

I already had my hand on the side of the door. "Okay, well stop by the gym whenever you get the time." I said, "I could use the moral support."

"For what?" Tereus asked. I gave him a slightly disappointed look before he raised an eyebrow, paused and looked a bit more enlightened. "Oh, right. Just don't lose. She's old so she might have weak ankles." he smiled.

"I'm telling." I chuckled before galloping off down the hall.

When I got to the gym Briareos was hitting the weights and so was Deunan, hers exceptionally smaller than his. The rest of the ES.W.A.T. soldiers who weren't lifting gathered around the sparring ring where a fight was in progress.

"Do you need to lift weights? Don't you just tighten some screws to make you stronger?" I smiled.

"Good one. Never heard that before." Briareos grunted sarcastically, lifting and dropping the bar connected to a substantial amount of weight.

"How much are you benching?" I asked.

"Four hundred ten." he said as he lifted and placed the bar on the rack above him.

"I'm not surprised." I shrugged. "What about you?" I said, turning to Deunan who had also just put her weights down.

"One hundred thirty." she replied as she sat up. "How about you rookie? How much do you bench?" She gave me this look that just said 'I'm better than you and you know it.' I don't even know why she's acting like this. I thought we were cool.

"I don't know, probably about eighty or ninety. I'm not that strong." I said honestly, rubbing my face absently. I tried to show some maturity by not lying to make myself seem like something I'm not.

"So how did you take out a New Atlantean air fleet, alone, with a handgun?" Deunan asked.

"I climbed some stairs onto the roof of a building, jumped onto one of their planes, shot out the engines of another plane, by luck, boarded the plane I was on and, after taking out the crew, crashed into the third plane and crash landed the plane I was on." I said.

"So why'd you make it seem like you knew what you were doing yesterday afternoon?" Deunan asked coldly.

"I know I boasted about it earlier. Some of it was by luck but I did know what I was doing." I said. "Just because I'm not strong doesn't mean I can't get things done,"

"Then you'd better be quick and smart with a gun because you don't stand a chance at hand to hand." she sighed as she got up.

"Are you serious? You've never seen me go hand to hand." I said, still trying to keep my voice low. I was dealing with mixed signals in my mind because I'm usually not easily angered by having my skills challenged but Deunan is really heating me up and I don't understand why, or even why she's doing this all of a sudden. Maybe because I'm her partner now or she sees me as competition and is trying to get inside my head. I want to stay calm about this; I don't want to lose it.

"Then lets see." she replied. She rose from the bench and started for the sparring ring. The fight that was going on when I got inside was still in progress. "When they're done, we're next." she said as she walked by, nearly bumping my shoulder.

"Alright." I said firmly. Briareos stood and placed his hands on his hips.

"You wanted to prove yourself." he said.

". . . Yeah." I said blankly. "Guess I got what I wanted. This isn't gonna be easy."

"Of course not." Briareos said. "So how do you feel?"

"I wanna say nervous. . . ," I started. "But it feels more like scared. I don't want to be scared."

"You'd better be scared. She is known as the goddess of war." Briareos folded his arms and sighed.

"What's going on?" said Tereus as he walked in.

"Deunan just challenged Tenari to hand to hand." Briareos answered.

"Should've known. You must be nervous." he said as he stopped next to his cyborg counterpart.

"I am." I said, placing my right thumb under my chin and my index finger on top of my upper lip as I watched the current sparring match through the spaces in the small crowd around it. "But it's the good nervous. Like, excited nervous."

"Just don't choke. Concentrate. Don't worry about who's watching or what they'll think." Tereus said. "And remember what I said earlier."

I looked to Tereus who looked back at me with a smile. His smile made me feel good. It calmed me down a little and even coaxed me to smile a bit. I think that little moment we had last night had been good for the both of us, being partners, that is. I guess learning a little about each other will helps us bond both on and off the battlefield. This is good for me because I could definitely use a friend around here. "Gotcha." I nodded.

"What's going on between you two? You're a little too smiley." Briareos said, looking between the two of us.

"Nothin'" I scoffed. "We can't smile?" I looked to Briareos with a risen eyebrow before I slowly made my way to the sparring ring. As I approached, I saw that the match going on was coming to a close. Both fighters looked tired and were nearing a mutual agreement to tie. I stopped behind Deunan and she turned to me with a smirk.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yep." I replied.

Alrighty. Next chapter will probably be the most exciting. I hope I do it justice. If its not already posted then I'm working on it right now. So stay posted.


	10. Proving Grounds

Hey you guys. Thanks for sticking around for so long. I just wanted to take the time to recognize you the readers, and someone who may not be you, the reviewers. But I want to point out my two newest reviewers **LilyTigerOfGore**, and **RioAzmora. **I really appreciate everyone for taking the time to read and even gong the extra mile to review. Thanks again, I love you guys, here's the next chapter.

* * *

The two in the ring shook hands and walked off as Deunan walked on. I followed with my hands folded on the back of my neck. I heard the inevitable murmurs and whispers about whose money is on Deunan and the one or two who believe I'll pull off an upset. I took my position opposite Deunan and took a brief moment to assess my emotions. I was surprised because I was nervous a few seconds earlier but now I don't feel anything. I actually felt like going home and taking a nap. I smiled to myself at my absentmindedness.

"What's funny? I want to laugh." Deunan sneered.

"Nothing. It's an inside thing." I said. I unlocked my fingers from my neck and let my hands drop to my sides. "You mind if I ask you a question before we start?"

"I suppose." Deunan said, folding her arms impatiently.

"Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? I mean you were pretty nice to me earlier but now you act like you hate me." I shrugged. ". . . Is it because I'm your partner now?"

"If you beat me, I'll tell you." Deunan said. I thought she sounded like a video game boss. I chuckled at how childish I sounded. "I still don't find anything funny." she grunted.

"I told you. It's an inside thing." I said again. "You got any rules?"

"First one forced to the ground loses." she said.

"Okay," I shrugged and rose my arms into my fighting position, which really wasn't too complex; just my left hand leveled with my chest and my right hand just below its respective shoulder. My feet were shoulder length apart, my left foot in front of my right. I never was trained in a fighting discipline, but I could fight pretty decently.

"So you're left-handed." Deunan nodded, standing without any type of guards.

"It happens." I replied. "Is that a problem?"

"Not really." she retorted.

"All right, well, age before beauty." I grinned.

"If you insist." she growled before quickly lunging at me, building up momentum for a left roundhouse kick aimed at my neck. I raised my right forearm to intercept the blow, nearly causing myself a self-inflicted jab to the jaw. I pushed her leg away, trying to get her off balance but she planted her foot immediately and quickly retaliated with a right straight, again aimed at my face. I took a swift step backward before catching her fist in the palm of my hand. I slid my right foot to clip hers and threw her fist to the right causing her to stagger about a step. I planted my left foot aimed a spinning back kick at her shoulder. But she fluidly weaved away from it and slid her left foot to catch my landing foot from landing evenly. My heel slipped slightly on hers causing me to stand wide-legged and wobbly. Deunan then raised her leg for a heel kick on my shoulder I weaved backwards and caught her foot in a two handed cradle and instinctively tugged it over my shoulder bringing her with it. She landed squarely on her hands. Before she had a chance to retaliate I let her go and shuffled back, she rolled forward. Everyone around the circle started to clap and cheer. Laughing and yelling filled the area and the crowd had increased since the fight started.

"Hey, she's pretty good." someone said.

"I guess so if she's going toe to toe with Deunan like she is." someone else replied. "Look, they haven't even broken a sweat."

"You want to reconsider your bet?" another chuckled.

"She is doing a pretty good job." I heard Tereus say.

"Hold your congratulations. This isn't over yet." Briareos said. I will admit all the praise I was getting was getting to me. But his comment brought me back down to earth. She could be toying with me right now; I only taunted her to see if she'd fight hard from the start. I know Deunan is much faster and stronger than this though. But so am I.

"You're a lot better than I thought you'd be. You're really quick to recover when you're off balance and pretty creative, too." Deunan said.

"Thank you." I sniffed. "I guess I shouldn't expect less from the great Deunan Knute."

"Think you kicked at me enough?" she smirked.

"Not as much as you." I replied, returning her smile. "So, are you ready?"

"I'm waiting for _you _rookie." she snickered toothily. I quickly dashed towards her, a smile still resting on my face, throwing a swift right punch right between the eyes. She leaned back, pushing my wrist away and throwing a counter punch of her own at my left cheek. I was about to let it connect but my reflexes took over causing my neck to jerk to the side bringing my head along with it, barely dodging the blow but not enough to avoid her thumb knuckle stinging my cheekbone. Thanking God for agile reflexes, I again grabbed Deunan's arm and attempted another shoulder throw. I second guessed how affective it would be since I tried it already and failed. I by the time I had planted my feet and had her forearm over my shoulder, she had turned her wrist and grabbed mine. She came over my shoulder with her free arm out to brace herself and planted it on the ground followed by her feet. I tried to think of something but drew a blank. Before I realized it, I was off my feet. I looked down and saw nothing but that intense green glare looking back up at me. The only thing I thought to do was tuck my head and hope I landed on my shoulders. I tucked so close to the ground I nearly landed on my neck but was successful to land on my shoulders and forward roll, easing some of the impact of that throw.

"You are ridiculously strong." I said over the mild cheering and applause, rolling over onto my back. I turned my head over to Deunan who was standing from her knelt position. "How can you swing one hundred and twenty nine pounds over your head with one arm?"

"You gave me the necessary momentum." Deunan said as she approached with a warm, less threatening smile. "If you hadn't thrown me then I couldn't have been able to swing you like that. So if you hadn't thrown me I wouldn't have won." She outstretched a hand to help me up.

"You would've gotten me eventually." I said. I reached up for her hand as she assisted me to my feet.

"You did a good job, Tenari. Don't try to sell yourself short. I honestly didn't plan on counter-throwing you, it was just by reflex." Deunan said. "I wasn't completely serious but you almost caught me a few times and forced me to step up."

"That was the quickest fight I've ever seen." Briareos said as he approached.

"I've been in quicker." I said rolling my shoulders a few times.

"You two are pretty fast." Tereus said as he ambled in behind Briareos. "I wonder who'd win a footrace. . . ." I shot him the coldest glare I could muster. He looked at Deunan who I suppose looked back to me.

"You want to race?" Deunan asked.

"No." I sighed. "But do I have a choice?"

"Yeah, you can either footrace or bike race." Briareos said with folded arms.

"Bike race." I said quickly. "Where and when?"

"From the complex, here, and back." Deunan said. "Take any way you want to."

"So when you go back home fill your bike up." Briareos said.

"This'll be fun." I smiled.

"No one else around here was ever brave enough to race me." Deunan smiled.

"Does anyone else even ride a motorcycle?" I asked as I started to leave the ring.

"Some do." Deunan said as she followed. "But they just aren't confident enough to race."

"I'm confident!" I bounced happily and quickly stopped, again sounding incredibly childish.

"You are not twenty-one; you are six and a half." Briareos chuckled.

"Leave me alone, I'm excited. I never got to race on my motorcycle before either." I smiled. I looked at Deunan who was shaking her head with a smile. "Hey, how come you're acting so calm now? You seemed pretty angry towards me before."

"I was just messing with you." Deunan said, playfully punching me in the shoulder. "I wanted to see if you could handle it. I was expecting out to blow up on me. I guess I didn't get under your skin enough."

"Oh, you did. I just held it in as best as I could." I smiled. "I thought you were giving me the 'Tereus treatment'."

"You told her about that?" Deunan smiled as she pivoted around to Tereus. He stopped and chuckled.

"Well, she told me some things too." Tereus said. "But I won't talk about it unless she wants me to."

"Well I would tell you," I started as I continued to the door to the hallway. I stopped in the door way and looked back at my comrades. ". . . but I've got a race to win."


	11. Beyond Your Years

"You wouldn't cheat for your old flame, would you?" I asked as we swooped through the traffic on my motorcycle on the way back to the housing complex.

"She- she's not an old flame. We were never together." Tereus stammered.

"Yeah, whatever, but you didn't answer my question." I replied, nearly yelling over the whooshing of ongoing traffic.

"No, I'm calling a fair race." Tereus sighed. "But it's funny how Briareos and I are split up the way we are. You know, I'm with you and he's with her."

"I know that Briareos is fair so I don't think I'll have to worry about him. It's you I'm concerned about." I said, braking, leaning and accelerating into a turn at a traffic light.

"Me? Why do you have to worry about me?" Tereus asked with a raised voice.

"With this whole bioroid emotion control thing and your old feelings for Deunan; you're loose cannon right now." I chuckled.

"You'll know if I'm acting strange. I'm a bioroid, there are a lot of things I'm not supposed to feel or do." he retaliated. "Besides what do I need Deunan for when I've got you?"

"See? Now I'm skeptical about having you judge the final leg of the race again." I replied, shaking my head.

"What? Why?" Tereus chuckled.

"You're showing symptoms of bioroid mind control because that was so out of nowhere." I said, making the turn into the complex and reducing the speed as we rode up our street.

"I was joking! Relax, Tenari." he said in a calm tone. "Besides, where can we go as partners if you can't trust me?"

"Then stop messing with me! All of you!" I replied as I came to a complete stop curbside of my house. I put the kickstand then both feet down before removing my visor-less helmet. "Then maybe I'll think about trusting you, okay?"

"Fine." Tereus said. He swung his leg over and followed me up my driveway. "So where'd Deunan say she was going?"

"She went to fill her bike up before the race." I said, swinging my helmet at my side by the mouth guard.

"Shouldn't you be filling your bike up too?" Tereus asked.

"It's already full. Getting from here to headquarters doesn't take up hardly any gas so I just left it." I stretched my hand equipped with my helmet over my head. I entered the pin code to open my garage on the holographic panel that appeared as I approached the left side of it. It slowly opened; I ducked under it as soon as it reached a level where I could. "Come on in. She'll be here soon." I said, reaching in my jacket pocket for my door keys.

"You still carry door keys?" Tereus asked.

"I like the way they sound when you walk around." I replied.

"But they're in your pocket. You can't hear them unless they're hanging on something." he said with a smart tone.

"Well are you going to pay for a scanner to put here instead?" I sneered as I inserted the keys into the lock and opened the door. I walked inside through the laundry room, opening the door into my kitchen. I placed them on the dark green marble countertop that wrapped around the whole right side of the kitchen under all the light brown cabinets. The stainless steel sink was against the right wall; the microwave, stove and oven were vertically aligned on the opposite side. I walked through the kitchen and into the living room.

"You should be able to. ES.W.A.T. soldiers get paid a lot." Tereus said sitting down on the nearest couch

"I haven't been here long enough to get paid." I said, tossing my helmet into a nearby chair as I wondered to a hall closet to find a new visor for my helmet.

"Oh." Tereus said awkwardly then cleared his throat. "Um, your house is pretty nice."

"Thanks, but I didn't do too much to make it like this. Everything was already here." I replied, trying to move things around as neatly as possible. I was really resisting the urge to just start throwing things out. "But if you want I'll give you a tour after I change."

"Okay, that's fine." Tereus said. "Hey, if they just brought you here basically from off the front lines then why do you have all this stuff?"

"They brought it from base camp." I sighed, closing the closet empty-handed. "I don't even know how they even got there and back in one piece."

"Why?" Tereus asked.

"At my base camp there are eight people, including me." I started, making my way back to the living room and sitting on the edge of the chair with my helmet. "No one who isn't invited can even come into the eyesight of anyone in there or get shot, or on rare occasion of persistence, severely injured or killed."

"That's pretty intense." Tereus said with a lowered brow.

"Yep. No one was ever killed though." I said. "In case you're wondering, no we didn't have anything to protect other than ourselves. We just wanted to build a reputation so that people would leave our hard earned territory alone."

"So who were the other seven people?" Tereus asked.

"My second family." I smiled. Just the memory of those guys brought a smile to my face. "There was me," I started counting on my fingers as I spoke. "My best friend, slash, big brother Keoni, his brother Dominik, and my other friends Lumiere, Motoko, Lucas and my second father figure Gunnar. He taught me some of his sniping skills. They all taught me a little bit of something, me being the youngest."

"I suppose you had a lot of fun with them, seeing as how you can't stop smiling." Tereus replied.

"Yeah, after I left boot camp I stumbled into their territory when Keoni came out to confront me and we skeptically became accomplices and soon friends. Then I became friends with the people he lived in the base with and they let me move in." I said happily. "But being around people isn't what I do. I don't like being around people too much for too long. I get irritated sometimes. But with him, it's like he understands me. He grew to know me better than Kudoh and in shorter time and vice versa. And over time. . . ." I grinned shyly.

"You started to like him." Tereus smiled. His smile is so cute. It made me feel comfortable and warm inside.

"I never told him how I felt, though." I shook my head with an empty smile.

"Don't do that, and then you won't ever know if he feels the same way." Tereus argued.

"But I don't know if I want to know how he feels. What if he doesn't feel the same way?" I whined.

"You're such a kid." Tereus chuckled.

"I wish people would stop telling me that." I sighed. "I'm twenty one years old."

"He may feel the way you feel and, just like you, is afraid of being rejected." Tereus said. "Now you may never get the chance to tell him."

"I know, I know. I messed up." I retorted quietly. "I'm an idiot."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. You'll find a way. And if you don't, it wasn't meant to be." Tereus said sensibly.

"You're wise beyond your years, young grasshopper." I chuckled, standing and stretching with my hands over my head. I flopped them down onto the open part of my helmet and tossed it down the hall.

"You are extremely destructive." Tereus sighed, shaking his head.

"This is _my_ house." I said quietly. "If you don't like it, get out." As I finished I heard rumbling and a couple of honks from a horn from out front.

"Sounds like Deunan's here." Tereus said. I had already started for the door. "You ready?"

"Tereus," I started with an excited smirk on my face. "I really don't know."

* * *

Yeah kind of a blah chapter. Kinda short too. I'm sorry for the delay though. I've found myself addicted to online video gaming. I won't stop writing I promise. The race is next chapter and for those waiting for the storyline to drop, that's coming too. Thanks for staying with me. Much love for you people.


	12. Rookie Mistakes

ATTENTION EVERYONE: I'm sorry for taking forever to update. I got hooked on online video games, Flyff is a killer. But in further, more related news, I have realized that almost everyone is pretty out of character, when I saw Ex Machina, I saw it in Japanese with subtitles. With subtitles you get what they say, not how they say it. When I saw it in English, I realized a few things:

Tereus is a bit of a jerk  
Deunan is a pretty playful person  
Briareos has a sense of humor

And since it's too late to change the story from the beginning I've got to work that into what I'm doing now. And by the way, I have a sequel lined up in my head so be ready for that come spring or summer. Now on to what you're really here for.

* * *

"You remember the rules rookie?" Deunan asked as she sat up straight on her impressive looking red motorcycle. She raised her visor from her eyes, revealing a competitive yet friendly smile. She kill-switched her engine and folded her arms.

"HQ and back, by any means." I said as Tereus and I exited the house, punching my arms into my jacket sleeves. "I'm a rookie, not senile." I replied, returning her smile with one of my own.

"No, helmet, huh?" Deunan asked smugly.

"No visor." I replied. "If I don't have the whole thing I don't want it."

"Don't fall then" Deunan chuckled.

"I won't." I smiled.

"Briareos is waiting on the street in front of HQ." Deunan said. She reached into a pouch beside where the removed passenger seat was and pulled out two sets of ES.W.A.T headset radios. She tossed one over me to Tereus and reached out for me to take the other. "He'll give you a confirmation when he sees you. They're all on the same private frequency so we can all communicate through these."

"You're going to talk trash the whole race aren't you?" I said as I placed the headset over my ears and pulled a few caught up strands of hair free.

"No," Deunan said. "Maybe at the starting line though."

"Okay. So you ready?" I asked as I walked to my bike.

"Whenever you are." Deunan replied, lowering her visor. She started and revved her bike on her way to the street. I kicked my leg over mine and did the same.

"You two ready?" Tereus asked over the headset as he walked into the street in front of us.

"Yeah," reverberated Deunan's helmet-muffled voice through the headset. "How 'bout you?" I could tell by her voice that she was smiling.

I turned to her with a stone-faced expression as I started for my jacket pocket. She raised an eyebrow at me as I slowly covered my eyes with my slightly opaque lime green sunglasses, never breaking the glance. She chuckled as she faced forward.

"Okay." Deunan said.

"You two read me?" said Briareos' gentle rumble of a voice.

"I hear you." Deunan replied.

"Loud and clear," I responded.

"Alright ladies. How about you Tereus?" Briareos said.

"I read you." Tereus said. "You ready down there?"

"Whenever you are." Briareos retorted.

"All right. This is it. You go on my mark." Tereus said professionally as a situationally correct breeze blew, carrying Tereus' ponytail, mine and as much hair as Deunan's allowed along with it. Deunan revved her engine in what seemed like an attempt to intimidate me. I didn't respond to it, though. I planted both feet firmly on the ground and waited for Tereus the start the race.

"Alright this is it." Deunan whispered through her microphone.

"Three . . . ," Tereus began.

"That is the moment of truth; it's time to shine." Deunan mused. If I didn't know any better I would think that she was my conscience speaking audibly to me. Now I didn't know if the anxiety building inside me was negative or positive anymore.

"Two . . . ," Tereus continued.

"You can prove yourself right here." she said again. "Don't blow it."

"One . . . ,"

"I prove myself on the battlefield." I confidently replied. "This is just another training session."

"Good answer." Briareos said, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Go!" Tereus said. We both took off simultaneously, exploding past Tereus and swiftly making the first turn out of the complex. It seemed that Deunan didn't switch gears as quickly as most. Going by the sound of her engine, she waited until the last possible moment to shift her gears. If she continues to do that then it could be hard to catch her. So I guess that knocks out 'making sure she shifts first'. She gracefully swerved around corners and onto the highway. I almost mirrored her movements as I followed in pursuit. I hardly knew where I was going so the plan was to follow her there and take my own route back. She wasn't trying very hard to lose me. She took a pretty straightforward route, the way I usually take to get there, but I wasn't about to let my guard down. We weaved in and out of parkway traffic almost effortlessly.

The exit to HQ was quickly approaching but it looked like Deunan wasn't making any attempt to try to make her way towards it. So either she's trying to fool me or she knows another way. But the parkway goes completely away from HQ after this. _It would make a lot of sense to follow someone who knows where they're going, _I thought. _But this is Deunan and this is a race. Would I be wrong to follow her? There's no time to think I have to act. _I quickly leaned towards the exit and zoomed down the ramp. I sped through any traffic and speedily turned the corner. I was literally around the corner from the checkpoint when I heard a zoom over my headset.

"Deunan's passed first." Briareos said. I clenched my teeth as I slowed down to turn the corner and accelerated around the corner and past Briareos. Deunan was already long gone; I couldn't even hear her bike anymore. "Tenari's through." he said as I passed.

"I was right about to ask who's winning." Tereus said.

"Did you really have to? It was obvious who was gonna win from the start." Deunan said cockily.

"Don't underestimate me." I growled, my frustration was on full display.

"Come on rookie, lighten up. It's just another training session, remember?" Deunan replied with that same cocky tone. I raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"You know, you're right. This is just a training session." I sighed. "I've been schooled too, but I can bring this back. I sped down the street and towards a side street and down an alley which led to a busy marketplace. I wove around people and merchandise carts and into another alley that led to another side street that was a straight shot to the complex. Further down, I saw a plank of wood propped against a dumpster like a bicycle ramp. I never went off a ramp with my motorcycle so why not try now?

I slowed my speed as a precaution and aligned myself with the plank. A burst of excitement hit me as I approached the 'ramp' so I sped up and elevated from it. I soared through the air in what seemed like entire seconds. Without realizing, I sat completely upright on my bike and loosened the grip on my handlebars. Before I knew it, I was fighting to regain balance on my bike, which completely failed, and I found myself laying face up in a pile of empty cardboard boxes. My bike was idle against the opposite side of the alleyway, almost as sprawled out as I was.

"What was that?" Deunan asked. I chuckled to myself at her confused tone.

"I fell," I snickered. I heard a soft zooming from the street behind me. "Looks like you win." I said lazily.

"You're giving up?" she asked.

"Look to your left at this next turn." I said. I'd say no more than 3 seconds went by before she flew past.

"Wow, how'd that happen?" Deunan giggled.

"What happened?" Briareos asked.

"Tenari got separated from her bike." she said.

"What happened, Kickback?" Briareos chuckled

"It tried to hit a ramp for the first time." I sighed. "I didn't think I would mess it up this bad." I rolled over and tried to get myself onto my feet when I heard whooshing that sounded like it came from a WASP. Then I saw it fly over rather quickly. "Deunan, did you see that?"

"Yeah," she said softly, "WASP's don't fly that low in residential areas except for on missions."

"I haven't heard about any missions lately," Briareos said, "and with the Bioroid suspensions there aren't too many available squads that aren't on escort duty for the politician Bioroids."

"So what should we do?" I said, slowly rising to my feet.

"I think we should find out what's going on," Deunan replied. "Anyone else notice that Tereus has been rather quiet since Tenari passed the checkpoint?"

"It could be another attack." I said, staring blankly at my motorcycle.

"Tenari meet me back here," Briareos ordered. "We've got to try to top this before it becomes a problem."

* * *

I know, kinda devoid of action, but the best is yet to come, stay with me people. I won't let you down.


	13. Sealed Move

I want to try something new here. This will be the turning point for the story (no it is not going to be just about how Tenari's a rookie and how they all get along and stuff like it's been so far). I won't spoil it but this is where the action and Tenari's (complete) character development start. SOOO, this chapter will be kinda sorta like a one-shot except it's not. So don't get confused, because I might confuse myself by just trying to write this.

_He's looking right at me . . . ._

"I've got your cover. There's a squad of five straight ahead and another flanking in from the northeast." I breathed in my headset, glued to my eye scope. I scanned this abandoned marketplace with vigilant eyes as our two-man team tried to advance. Pure adrenaline flowed through me, heightening my senses exponentially. I could hear my partners' very footsteps from my position almost one hundred meters away. I kept my hand completely still; the slightest twitch could cost us our lives.

"How many can you take out?" my partner asked as he pressed himself against the rear wall of a nearly destroyed shack. Took the scope away from my face to see the entire area and replaced it to analyze my shot.

". . . I can take the front men of both squads in about three seconds, after that the best I can promise is that I can clean up." I replied, going between targets to memorize their positions. "I may be able to pluck off a few during the fray."

"That's all I need." he said. I could hear the cocky smirk in his voice. "I'm ready when you are, chief."

"Alright, you want a countdown?" I asked as I zoomed my scope back in, focusing on just below the right shoulder of my first target.

"Sure, if you insist." he replied.

"Okay, three . . . , two . . . , one."

_He's looking right at me . . . ._

I swerved around crates and boxes on the docks, missiles shot at us almost constantly. We've had a quite few near misses, but if nothing else is tactically sound about me, I know how to get away from things. "It looks like it's after _you_, Tenari," Deunan said over the headset.

"I know," I replied, a bit short of breath. "Don't know why though."

"You do anything to piss anybody off, rookie?" came Tereus' voice over the headset.

"Tereus, you okay?" I said, feeling a bit more relieved. "You're not all . . . manipulated are you?"

"No, It's me," he replied. "Where are you guys?"

"On the waterfront by the docks." Deunan said.

"On my way." He said.

"Help is definitely appreciated right now." I said as I forced my motorcycle around this obstacle course. "I'm still trying to figure out how to stop this thing."

"Well think of a way to stop it quick. You're running out of dock." Deunan said.

"There's not much I can do. It's sitting in the middle of the bay and it's not moving." I answered, ducking from some debris from another missile hitting some crates.

"Tenari, that warehouse," Briareos shouted and pointed as he kept his other arm locked around my waist.

"I know, I see it," I grunted as another anti-aircraft missile collided with the dock. I cringed as I pulled the throttle back as far and as hard as I could and headed for the warehouse. "When we get there you jump off."

"What?" Briareos growled.

"Just do it." I said again. "Deunan,"

"Yeah?" she replied.

"I'm going to try to lure it inland some more." I grunted. "If you can get to it . . . ,"

"I'll take it out." Deunan replied.

"Alright," I replied, quickly approaching the warehouse when a barrage of missiles came barreling towards me. "Hurry, Briareos!"

_With those eyes of his . . . ._

"That's the last of them," I shouted as I approached from my vantage point

"You always have my back, don't you?" he called, smiling as I climbed over the nearby wall.

I dropped down and flung my strapped rifle over my shoulder. "That's what support snipers are for." I shrugged.

"Don't you mean friends?" he replied with the same smile.

"Yeah, those too," I chuckled. "You know I've always got your back, Keoni, it's what I'm here for."

"And I've always got yours." he said as he walked towards me. "You're a part of the family now kid. So we'll all be there to protect you, from Gunnar on down to me. But especially me."

"I know I can depend on you guys." I said, looking into his reddish-brown eyes. ". . . Especially you, Keoni."

"That's what big brothers are for." Keoni said wrapping his free arm around me.

"Yeah." I said, blushing a bit. "I appreciate that." He looked down on me with his beautiful smile that always seemed to take my breath away.

"No problem." He smiled. "Now let's get out of here before we get caught in an ambush."

_They almost look right through mine…._

My head throbbed, my legs and fingers were numb, I wasn't quite sure if I was bleeding anywhere. I hardly even know what happened to me. All I remember was a light and a few explosions . . . and heat. 'Was I hit? Am I dead?' I asked myself. I moved my hands and looked around to try to get a feel for where I was. Then I remembered.

"Tenari, can you hear me?" I heard Deunan's voice call.

"Deunan?" I answered with a raspy voice.

She let out a relieved sigh. "You all right, rookie? You had us kinda worried."

"Okay, so . . . what happened?" I grunted as I tried to push myself against a wall to assess my damages. I had nothing too major; a few scorch marks and some cuts and scrapes. I felt a hard scratch on my face between my right eye and ear but that was pretty much the worst of it. I adjusted the earpiece just as it was about to fall out of my ear.

"You were almost directly hit." Briareos responded. "You hurt?"

"Well, I don't think so?" I said quickly. "I don't feel too hurt. Where's Tereus?"

"We haven't heard from him since you got hit." Deunan said. "Where are you?"

"In an alley behind the warehouse," I said. "Where's the W.A.S.P.?"

"We don't know." Briareos said.

"How do you lose a W.A.S.P.?" I said as I began to stand up. I placed my hand on the wall for balance in case my legs gave out on me. As I rose, the earpiece squealed loudly in my ear. "What is that noise?" I said quickly pulling the source from my ear. Then it just as suddenly went dead. "Deunan! Briareos! Tereus!" I shouted into the headset for a last bit of hope, but no answer.

"Technology," said a voice from above. I looked up quickly, but saw nothing. I reached for the gun in my jacket pocket. "Technology can do just about anything, Tenari. Shoot rockets, predict evasive maneuvers, jam wireless radio, and cloak aircrafts." Just then, the W.A.S.P appeared right above me. A brown-haired figure, about Tereus' height, wearing a black muscle shirt and dark gray straight leg pants appeared with folded arms no more than 50 feet from where I was standing. "It's been a long time."

I looked down, smiled and shook my head. I looked back to him with that same smile. "It sure has Keoni."

* * *

Yeah, pretty long huh? Well once again I wanted there to be more, but for the sake of chapter equality I guess this ones split up a bit more. So in actuality Tenari doesn't start developing fully until next chapter, so stay posted.


	14. And Your Enemies Closer

I think this may be the quickest I've ever updated. But I felt a move of God so I went with it. Well here is the next chapter and where all the emotions flare and the plot drops and all that good stuff so enjoy

* * *

"ES.W.A.T soldier now, huh?" Keoni asked. The smile on his face hadn't changed. It was still as bright as it always was. "This is what you left us for?"

"No, it wasn't." I replied. "I was actually fighting in the war before this. But I got hurt and they found me."

"So, what, you think you owe them something?" he said, his smile was disappearing by the second.

"No, they wanted me here." I said firmly. "I'm here to protect this city."

"Protect the city, huh?" he chuckled. He dropped his arms and took a few slow steps toward me. "Y'know for a sniper you have a really hard time seeing."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I noticed the 'utility belts' he used to wear across his chest swinging in his hand. Those things used to be littered with magazines and his little tech stuff, and they didn't look too much different now, just with less wires hanging out.

"I'm talking about how these self-righteous fools tricked you into fighting for them." He stopped directly in front of me and folded his arms. He used to do that to me all the time when he would explain things to me. His figure still towered over mine and he got much more muscular. "All they care about is protecting their own while the rest of the world is tearing itself apart."

"So why were you shooting at me Keoni?" I asked. I meant to ask earlier but since I really didn't want to answer his last statement, I went ahead.

"Why are you changing the subject?" Keoni said with an irritable smile.

"Well, you're supposed to me my 'big brother'. I didn't have my biological brother for very long but I'm sure he wouldn't shoot anti-aircraft missiles at me." I said, looking him squarely in the eyes.

"I can't hit you with missiles and you know that." He said. "You're the most agile and instinctively evasive person I know. I probably couldn't shoot you right now."

"So were you playing with me?" I asked. I was aware that some much more serious questions had to be asked, I was just trying to find a way to slip them in.

"Don't you even want to know how I got a WASP," he sighed.

"That was my next question." I replied. "You have anything to do with this bioroid puppet master thing?"

"Actually I do." He said. "Our initial plan was, since bioroids are becoming much more influential in this 'utopia' we figure that the only way to bring this place down is to get to them first."

"Who is 'we?'" I asked.

"General Uranus and his team. After we helped break him out of prison –"

"You let Uranus out of prison?" I interrupted, about to take a step towards my bike, if it was still functional.

"Yeah, your ES.W.A.T. buddies should be hearing about that right about now." He said with a cocky smile. I turned quickly back around to get to my bike but I felt his arm grab my shoulder. I froze.

"Let me go, Keoni." I growled.

"I can't do that again." He said. "You left me once and look at where you turned up."

"I'm here because I was brought here. I'm here because this is a structured special weapons force that I'm comfortable being in. I'm here because this place needs people like me to protect them from the war out there; from people like you who want to destroy the last piece of hope this world has for survival." I said. My voice shook a little bit. I guess I'm still somewhat hypnotized by his touch.

"And that's why I can't let you go again. You're exactly what we need. Your type of commitment is what we need to pull this off. When I learned that you were here, I thought that if I could talk to you I could convince you to come with me. And that's part of the reason why I'm here." Keoni said.

"I'm not going to join whatever little gang of ragtag mercenaries you're with, Keoni." I replied snatching away from him and heading for my motorcycle. "I've got everything I need right here."

He quickly grabbed for my hand. "That's the other part of why I'm here." He said softly. "I don't have everything I need. You're still missing."

"Keoni . . . ," I started. "I'll still consider you as my brother in honor of all the time we spent together at camp a few years back but I'm not going to join up with you because you miss having me tag along with you."

"That's not what I mean." He said almost desperately. "I mean, I know all I treated you like was my baby sister and as time passed and we got closer I noticed that you started to favor me more than anyone else. I know you had feelings for me then Tenari."

"Yeah, I did." I said slowly. "And I'm not gonna lie and tell you that they're gone because they're not."

"I didn't think so." He replied. "But what I'm saying is, before you left, when you sat in my room that night for about ten minutes just staring at me while you thought I was sleeping. . . ."

I quickly turned and faced him. ". . . So you were awake." I sighed. My heart began to jump in my chest. This was something I was not ready for. There was no type of training that could prepare you for this.

"Yeah, I was." he said with that soothing calm voice of his. "It was really bold of you to kiss me. Then I guess it wasn't because you thought I was asleep. But, right at that moment, I guess I started to develop feelings for you too. So a week after, I left to go find you. But I kept convincing myself that it was because I was worried about my little sister."

"You shouldn't have left then." I said quietly. "If you left and became this, I wasn't worth leaving for." I felt his grip loosen on my hand and I softly pulled free. I looked him sternly in the eye before I started for my bike again.

". . . So I guess this means we're enemies now." He said uneasily.

"I guess." I replied, never breaking stride.

"Well, as the old saying goes. . . ." he started. I heard his footsteps on the gravel. I quickly turned. He grabbed both my arms and before I could even react, he kissed me. I wanted to fight it; I had to fight it. But something inside me felt complete. It wanted me to just stay there with him forever. I could feel the anger building up in me from letting him kiss me like this. I'm a soldier. I don't have feelings on the battlefield. So why can't I push him off? Why can't I get away? Why do I feel this way? He finally broke the kiss. I wasn't sure what my face looked like, but I'm pretty sure I looked somewhere between satisfied, confused and angry.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

If my expression wasn't angry before it was now. "Why would you do something like this?"

"Because, I guess I'm in love with you." He said nonchalantly. "Couldn't help myself." He shrugged.

I was livid and speechless. I almost wanted to kill him and I didn't know why. I don't know where this aggression I'm feeling was coming from. But I completely understand why it's rising all of a sudden. First Deunan, and now this. It's almost as if I'm set up to fail here.

"Freeze." My original partner appeared from almost nowhere with a handgun gun pointed at my "aggressors" head. I looked at him with no intention of telling Tereus to back off. I was hoping he'd retreat peacefully and end this insane encounter before things got too out of hand at the prison.

"Well, I guess I'm caught." He sighed. "Then here, Tenari, take this." He held out his doubled belt. Tereus of course was leery of it.

"It's okay, he wouldn't harm me." I said, aggravation was clear in my voice. I took the belts and let them hang at my side.

"This is everything you'll need to find me," He said, taking a few steps back. Tereus followed with the handgun. "Whether you decide to join me or not." With that, he suddenly disappeared and just as suddenly reappeared in the WASP above. He looked down on me with a smile and a two-fingered salute before he rode off and then disappeared again.

"What was that about?" Tereus said quickly. "What is going on Tenari?"

I was already headed back for my bike. "I'll explain on the way but right now, there are some issues at the high security prison."

* * *

Whoo!!! That was great right? Well I won't know unless you review. So get to it. I don't know when the next chapter is coming; this one was fairly unexpected but be on the lookout. All my story alert people have no choice but to be though.


	15. Fishtail

Well here it is, another update. Special thanks goes out to clairebear12 for actually seeking me out for an update. I was starting to think you guys didn't care about the fic anymore. Because honestly I don't think I would've updated until I finished my other fic but I can go back to alternating again I suppose since the other one's almost finished. Well enough talk, go and read the story

It had been a considerable amount of time since we left the back alleys of the docks. Tereus hadn't said a word about what happened and I wasn't very eager to share. I didn't even tell him where we were going or what was going on. Unfortunately my bike was damaged in the blast and can't surpass more than about 50 miles per hour or so. I know it would come up eventually so I guess I should say something.

"The guy I was talking to was involved in breaking General Uranus out of prison." I said finally.

"Do you know him or something?" Tereus asked.

"Actually . . . that was Keoni." I replied. Tereus was silent. "He said he went after me after I left camp and joined up with some guys affiliated with General Uranus."

"So I guess there are no hard feelings about you two being on different sides." Tereus said quietly. I could hardly hear him over the zoom of the traffic.

"Not for him. I told him I would still consider him a friend in honor of how close we were before" I replied, cutting behind a supply truck.

"You two must still be pretty close then." Tereus said. I detected a bit of annoyance in his voice.

". . . I guess you saw him kiss me then." I sighed.

"Yeah, I did." He replied.

"Oh." I said uneasily. ". . . Well I didn't like it or anything."

"Then why did you let him do it?" he replied in a scoldingly calm voice.

"Can you really blame me?" I asked.

". . . I guess not. You _do _still have feelings for him, and even if you aren't a fan of what he's done, you can't just turn those feelings off." He started. ". . . From what I understand."

"Well I guess you can." I said jokingly. **(A/N: I wonder if anyone got that.......)**"But that's not the point. My radio was jammed when Keoni confronted me. Do Deunan and Briareos know about the jailbreak?"

"I told them to go on ahead." He replied. "They should already be there but my radio was jammed, too. So I haven't heard anything else from them."

"Then we need to hurry." I said. I turned the throttle as hard as I could and still couldn't get too much faster than before. "This isn't working." I growled. I felt him lift his hand from my waist.

"Can anybody hear me? Deunan? Briareos?" he said. I heard him over _my _headset. I was actually surprised it still worked. We waited in silence for a while. We heard a bit of static but that was about it.

"...Guess the radio's still-"

"Tereus! It's about time." Deunan answered. "Did you find Tenari?"

"We're on our way right now." I replied. "What's going on there?"

"Nothing, everything is done and over with now. Uranus and his accomplices are long gone." she said with a bit of unease. "We missed them when we got here. We're just hanging around for the police reports. But where have you guys been? We've been trying to get you guys since we got the call from the prison."

"Our radios were jammed," I said as I watched another motorcycle zoom by. I felt a small whine coming forth from not even being able to put up a fight even if I wanted to race, but snuffed it out quickly.

"We didn't know what happened to you guys. The radios just gave scratchy feedback and then we heard an explosion." Briareos said. "And since we didn't hear from you guys we almost assumed the worst."

"Now, Briareos, I'm not trying to be conceited but I'm too tough for that." I said with a toothy grin.

"Yeah, sure." Briareos chuckled.

"But this is pretty serious." I sighed. "We're up against some advanced technology here."

"Yeah, to put a full cloaking device on something as big as a WASP in such little time would either take a few geniuses or some pretty advanced technology." Deunan said in a distant voice.

"Well I guess I've got some explaining to do..." I mused.

"Huh?" Duenan replied quickly.

"What are you talking about, Tenari." Briareos said.

"It's a long story." I said with an uneasy smile. "Or at least it is now."

"Well you gonna tell us or not?" Duenan asked impatiently.

"Not right now." I said quickly. "It's more of a thing you'd be more comfortable telling sitting down.... At a table... with food."

"Still just a kid...." Briareos sighed. "and still quick to try to get a meal out of someone."

"Well, then I guess I'll just stay a kid forever then. I can't seem to grow up anyway." I said with a voice that insinuated that I was rolling my eyes.

"Well, we're just about there so we'll talk to guys when we get there." Tereus chuckled.

"Alright, see you when you get here." Deunan said. I pressed the button on my headset to turn it off and it nearly broke off my face.

"I don't get it." Tereus said, almost out of nowhere. "I don't get _you._"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You have scratches and burn marks on you. Your headset, however is about to break off your face." he said slowly. "But that whole side of your face is fine, your ear looks untouched. How did you do it?"

"Come to think of it," I started. "I really hadn't noticed that. Maybe I fell on this side of my head after the blast."

"Even the blast!" he replied quickly. "You were almost hit by direct anti-aircraft missile fire. At least by direct recoil and you're fine. You hardly even have a limp."

"Well that's because of how I happened to dodge the explosion." I smiled. "It was a really lucky move. I didn't even do it on purpose. When I tried to fishtail into the alley was when the missile was coming at me. Then the only thing I remember happened after that was that I had accidentally planted my foot in the ground so when I was trying to accelerate into the alley my weight was on my planted foot. So when I pulled the throttle my bike did a 360 degree donut and stopped in the opening to the alley when the missile exploded. It was actually luck that I flew further than my bike did because _that _would have killed me if the blast didn't."

"So you shielded yourself with your bike, smart." he said.

"I didn't do it on purpose." I shrugged as we cleared the gate to the prison yard. "The only thing I've got going for me is that I'm fast, can use a gun and, probably, look something like Deunan." I followed the sounds of helicopter blades and police sirens until I got to where the police investigation was taking place when I saw Deunan leaning against a police van with her arms folded, Briareos was on the other side of the yard talking with Lance. I kicked down my bike's stand as Tereus swing his leg over and off. I did the same and walked over to Deunan.

"Wow, you look pretty rough." she said after taking a good look at me after I got closer. I smiled and felt the cut on my face bleeding. I touched it softly and checked my hand to make sure and heard a crash behind me. I turned and saw my bike wobbling back and forth on its stand with sparks and smoke coming from different parts of it. I turned back around with the same smile.

"My bike took the most of it."


	16. Insult to Injury

Ummmm, don't know what to say. Soooooo Next Chapter.

I leaned against a W.A.S.P. beside Deunan with my arms folded staring out into the sky. Deunan's arms were folded too. In the back of my mind I was wondering if anyone could tell us apart. A small smile appeared on my face at the idea that someone might just call her Tenari for once. But that was unlikely.

We had already been questioned. We were just waiting on Lance to give us the okay to leave. Tereus was talking to someone about my motorcycle and Briareos was sitting against a police cruiser closest to the prison looking through the stuff Keoni gave me. It had been about five minutes since Tereus and I got here. So I guess we split up pretty quickly.

"Tenari?" I heard from my right. I turned towards the source of the voice and saw an EMT holding a clipboard.

"Yes?" I said in a serious tone. I will admit I did try to sound like Deunan.

"Lance requested that you and Tereus get checked out before you leave." he said. I turned to look at Tereus who was still talking to whoever that was about my bike.

"Alright. I guess there's no harm in that." I replied as I slowly leaned myself squarely to my feet. I followed the EMT over to Tereus. "Hey, pretty boy." I said with a chuckle. Tereus turned slowly and looked at me with a confused smile.

"Pretty boy? Isn't that Briareos?" he asked.

"Well to me it's you." I replied with a smirk. "But, um, Lance wants us to get our boo-boos checked so c'mon." We followed the EMT to a casevac car where we sat in the opened trunk. They checked Tereus first so I watched as they scanned and bandaged and all the other stuff they did. He turned to look at me and lifted an eyebrow with a smile.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've never seen all this stuff being used before." I said a bit absently. "It's kinda cool." He smiled wider and looked down at the ground.

"Yeah, I guess I'm kinda used to it by now. I always end up banged up some kind of way." he said.

"Well, stick with me because I usually find my way out of getting too badly hurt." I smiled.

"Yeah, like you did with your bike." he replied. "By the way, it's totaled. The guy I was talking to said it's a wonder how you even got the both of us here on it without it falling apart on the way."

"I've had that bike since I left that military camp. I know how to make it work the way I want it to." I said. Tereus sat up and his scanners and bandages came in my direction. "It should . . . fall apart anytime now." I mused, somewhat amazed by all the lights and whirring sounds and stuff.

"They can get you something else to ride around in." Tereus said, now staring at me the same way I was staring at him.

"As long as it's not a car." I replied as a bright blue light flashed across my face before the EMT's retreated into the casevac. "I can't drive a car."

"You can't drive?" Tereus asked quickly.

"Never learned how." I shrugged.

"Wow, you never wanted to learn?"

"Nope, motorcycles are more mobile and a lot faster than cars."

"Most girls your age would die if they couldn't drive a car."

"I'm not most girls. I'm kinda different in case you didn't know."

"Yeah, you are. That's what I like about you." he smiled and so did I. Kinda couldn't help it. Then my attention was drawn to one of the EMT's who walked around towards the front of us.

"Well, the results are in. Tereus, you check out just fine, just a few minor scratches. But Tenari, you've got an odd case of a partial spiral fracture in your left fibula right below the knee." he said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't that hurt?" I asked. "I don't feel anything wrong."

"That's the odd part." he said. "Your ACL is holding it together. So the only way to fix it without long complicated surgery is for you to tear your ACL and walk on your leg enough to push the bone apart. From there the surgery should only be about an hour and recovery should be about a month and a half. Did you hyper extend you knee or leg in any way?"

"Yeah, I swung my bike around on my left leg with my foot planted in the ground." I said.

"That's probably what did it." he shook his head. "Well, with you being an ES.W.A.T. soldier you could tear your ACL at almost any time on active duty. Just try not to do it in a life threatening situation."

"Yeah, I'll try." I smiled. He nodded again and walked away. Tereus and I stood up and I still felt nothing wrong with my leg. "This is crazy. I feel like a liability now."

"You're just as susceptible to injury as everyone else here." Tereus said. "It's just that you're kinda looking for it to happen."

"I just need it to happen after this thing with Keoni and Uranus is over." I shook my head and folded my arms. "So, um, about my bike. When do I get another one?"

"We're working on getting you one right now." Lance said, coming out from seemingly out of nowhere. "We already know you're not a licensed driver and were going to work on your drivers' license too but for right now we need you to stick to what you know and are most comfortable with."

"All right." I said with a smile. "Can it at least be green like the last one?"

"Beggars can't be choosers." Lance said. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks." I smiled. He nodded and walked away. I went back to where Deunan was still standing with folded arms but now was joined by Briareos.

"So what'd the doctors say?" she asked.

"Basically, that I have to break my leg to fix it." I said.

"Then break it." she shrugged.

"Very funny." I said as I leaned against the car. "Well at least not yet. After all this is over then I'll do it."

"Tenari, did Keoni ever tell you what that stuff in those belts was for or what it was?" Briareos asked.

"He said that this was everything I needed to find him." I said. "Why what's in it?"

"A taser, a pair of fingerless gloves, a walkie-talkie, and sniper rounds." he said as he handed me the belts.

"Well, the taser could kill him because he has a pacemaker and it could short it out because it's kind of an old pacemaker. We used to communicate by walkie-talkie and I'm a sniper so the rounds and gloves are for me I suppose." I said.

"So does that mean anything?" he asked.

"Not really." I said. I swung the belts over my shoulder and folded my arms.

"Could anything be explosive?" Deunan asked.

"No, he wouldn't try to harm me at all." I said.

"How do you know?" Briareos asked.

"That will be explained at dinner." I smiled.

"...Right." Briareos said.

"So when do we get out of here?" I asked.

"We can leave now. Lance said everything that involves us is already taken care of." Deunan said.

"So how do we get out of here? My bike's not going to make it out of here." I asked.

"Yeah, we watched it basically collapse when someone tried to move it." Briareos chuckled. "But you and Deunan go on ahead; Tereus and I will catch up later.

"All right then." Deunan said. "I guess we'll see you guys later then."


	17. Noise

Hey peoples. Yes it has been forever. I kinda missed you guys. But I back in somewhat of a full swing. Now as promised Tenari begins development from here forward and so does Keoni. So here it is the long awaited Chapter 17. Oh and by the way, I literally wrote this in about two hours.

* * *

I had just gotten back in the house to change out of my nearly destroyed clothes before dinner with the guys tonight. I tossed the things Keoni gave me on the same chair my helmet was in and continued through the hall to the foyer. I jogged up the boxed stairs and down the hall. I never spent a whole lot of time up here only when I'm sleeping I suppose. There wasn't much in the upstairs hall but the guest bedrooms. The master suite was on the opposite side. I hadn't made plans for those rooms yet so they're empty.

I fought the urge to jump into my circular bed on the opposite side of my empty bedroom with dusty, singed clothes on. That lovely soft bed covered with blue and brown sheets and fluffy white pillows was the main attraction of the room. There was nothing else in here but that, a circular bench at the end foot of it and a vanity dresser that I didn't necessarily like, the huge flat screen monitor on the wall that was basically used for video calls and the cream carpet. My walk-in closet on the left, opposite the bathroom, was about as big as one of my guest rooms. I sighed as I noticed that I forgot to take of my shoes and probably tracked dirt all over the floor. I kicked them off and headed for the bathroom.

My bathroom was pretty big, entirely too big for a bathroom in my opinion, especially because I had his and hers' sinks. I use them both to be funny. The room was rectangly; the sinks were in the middle. I had a shower big enough to sleep in on one side and a Jacuzzi tub that was probably just as big on the other. The tiling was blue, the floors were hardwood, the sink was white. I turned on the light at the door and walked up to the mirrored cabinet doors. The cut on my face _did_ look like it would scar. My clothes weren't completely terrible, just torn and burned a bit. My hair was kinda everywhere and my face was dirty. Other than that, I looked and felt fine. A lot better than most people who had two motorcycle crashes in one day.

I walked over to my shower and set the temperature on the panel next to the door as my shower began to run. I leaned against the door and slowly ran my hands through the top of my head down to my face. Then I realized that I hated walking around naked so I ran back out through my bedroom and into the closet. I reached into a drawer on the floor next to the door and pulled out a thin red hoodie and a pair of black basketball shorts with white stripes down the side. I closed the drawer back, threw the clothes over my shoulder and walked back into my bedroom. Right as I was about to walk into the bathroom I heard loud static from downstairs. I knew the only thing it could be was that walkie-talkie.

I rested my hand on the edge of the bathroom doorway. I was about to walk into the bathroom but then I froze. I took a slow breath and started for the stairs but I froze again. "…Keoni," I whispered. "Why does he have this power over me? Why can't I get away from him?" I growled as I balled my fist against the doorway. I took a step into the bathroom. No sooner did I put my foot down did the static stop. It was then that I rationalized that, as an ES.W.A.T. soldier, I should've answered that to get whatever information from him that I could. But, I don't know if my pride would've allowed it, even though I really wanted to go down there. But I've come to the conclusion that I was ready to be over him and move on with the new life I've got. Just then the static began again. I hesitated a bit again, but eventually I jogged briskly out of my room and down the steps. I walked to the source of the noise and dug the walkie-talkie out of the bag.

"What is it?" I said coldly as I brought the device up to my face. The static continued for a few seconds then stopped. There was silence for a few moments that made me mindful of my shower running upstairs. I was about ready to drop the conversation and go back.

"…Well it's about time you answered, Chief." He replied almost as clearly as if he were right next to me.

"What do you want Keoni?" I replied.

"You already know what I want." He chuckled. "But that's not why I called you."

"They why?" I asked.

"I called to give you a heads-up." He said. "Uranus is going to make this a huge fight."

"Oh, really." I said.

"Tenari, I'm serious. Uranus wants to take no prisoners. He wants bioroids and everything that has to do with them completely annihilated." He said.

"So why are you telling _me_ this?" I said smugly as I folded my arms. "In case you didn't know, my partners a bioroid. I'm on the annihilation list too."

"I know he is. He's actually on the top of our list." He said. I could hear in his voice that whatever he had to say really was serious. "But I'm telling you this because, even though I know once you've made up your mind it's a hard thing to change, I don't want you to be caught up in what these guys are planning. This will be a war, and a bloody one at that. I don't want to see you get hurt, or even worse, be the one to hurt you."

"We're pretty tough over here." I replied confidently. "I think we can handle it." I heard him sigh over the walkie-talkie. He started to say something a few times but cut himself off he's usually so confident and sure. If this is how it's making him act then it must be serious. "Is it really that bad?"

"Y-yes, it really is." He said urgently. "I know you don't agree with what I'm doing, and I don't agree with what you're doing, but can you do at least one thing for me?"

"What?" I asked

"Meet me on top of the City Square building tonight?" He asked.

"I-I, Keoni, I can't, I'm going out with Tereus and the others tonight." I replied.

"Oh… that bioroid guy right? I can tell he's got the hots for you." He chuckled.

"What…? No he doesn't, he's just my partner. That's all." I said quickly.

"That's what you may think he thinks." He laughed. "Who knows? Maybe you like him too."

"Keoni, no! I don't. He's my partner! I don't—"

"Well, anyway, I'll wait on the roof for you. But only until eleven." He continued.

"Keoni?! Are you listening to me?" I asked.

"It may just be the last time we get to see each other…" He trailed.

"No it won't." I said confidently. "I know every trick you've got and you know mine. We won't fall easily." I heard that familiar laugh of his that always makes me smile.

"You're right. Well then it'll be the last time we'll be at peace then." He said.

"Maybe." I replied.

"…Yeah." He said distantly. "Well I've gotta run. I've got briefings and stuff to go to. I'll tell you everything you need to know tonight, if you show up. Oh, and feel free to tell your comrades. I don't know how many of them will stay alive but as long as they protect you, I'm fine."

"How sweet." I said sarcastically.

"Anything for you, Chief."

* * *

Yep, I couldn't think of another way to end the chapter smoothly so I ended it like that. By the way, if you were disappointed by the descriptiveness in the beginning it's still in Tenari's POV, not very detailed I suppose. I'll be sure to update soonish guys. Stick around.


	18. Clearance

Okay I shall admit this chapter was rushed, I wanted to hurry to the rooftop part. That will be in the next chapter. And I wanna get that out of the way so I can get to the Uranus war!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!! Well read up.

* * *

I pulled a fry from underneath all the others and bit off the crunchy tip. Then I took a sip of my iced tea and let out a refreshed 'Ahhhh…'. I sniffed a bit and sat back in my booth seat with my arms folded behind my head for a bit more comfort. "So what do you wanna know?"

"Who is this Keoni guy?" Deunan asked.

I took a deep breath before I began. "Well, he was one of my first friends after Africa. He found me wondering around the base camp he and a few others set up."

"Why is he not on your side then?" Deunan asked again, folding her hands on the table.

"After I left to fight in the war, he came after me and ran into some people affiliated with General Uranus." I explained. "At least, that's what he told me."

"Do you think he would lie to you?" Briareos asked sternly.

"Not really, he claims he's in 'love' with me," I said making physical quotation with my fingers. "And we were pretty close. I'd know if he was lying." I said, rolling my eyes. I saw Tereus uneasily shift in his seat next to me out of my peripheral. What Keoni said to me about him liking me popped back into my mind.

"So if he loves you why is he shooting anti-aircraft missiles at you?" Briareos asked with a bit of an annoyed tone.

"He said he knew he couldn't hit me with them." I shrugged,

"So what is he planning?" Deunan asked,

"He told me Uranus was planning to wipe out bioroids and everything related to them, He contacted me earlier and told me that Uranus was going to make this a full blown war. He also said that Tereus was on the top of the list as far as bioroids go." I looked to Tereus who looked at me with confused eyes. I kinda thought he would be a bit more scared, nervous, something. But, no, just confused.

"Why me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know, maybe because you're made from the top ES.W.A.T. soldier and probably be the biggest threat." I said. "And, he wants me to meet him on top of the Square building tonight. I think it's to tell me more about what Uranus is planning."

"When is he meeting you there?" Deunan asked. I pulled another trapped fry from the bottom of the pile and drowned it with a long sip of tea. It looked like Briareos was going to ask first but I suppose he let speak since they apparently have the whole 'significant other telepathy' thing down packed. Maybe… uh… never mind.

"He said he'd stay 'til eleven." I replied.

"Well then, maybe you should go and get as much information as soon as possible." Briareos said with folded arms.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." I said. I laid my head back on the seat and blindly reached for my fry basket to pull another from the bottom. I hung it over my head and dropped it on my nose. I blinked off the random salt crystals that fell in my eyes and rubbed away any stray tears. I slowly pulled myself up and saw that all three of them were staring at me impatiently. "…You want me to go like, right now?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"It'd be nice." Deunan said sarcastically.

"But I'm not even done…." I whined as I childishly pushed my basket back and forth between my hands on the table.

"Kickback…." Briareos warned. I froze with a furrowed brow and slowly got up. As I waited for Tereus to move, I grabbed a handful of french fries and quickly stuffed them in my mouth. I began to shuffle out of the booth and they quickly moved back for my tea…and a few extra fries before I made my way out. I exited the spots bar and walked out into the well lit night life of Olympus Square; the brightest place in the city. I walked down the guard-railed sidewalk to the fountain. Across from there was the immense Olympus City Square building. From what I heard, that's where all the pencil necks work. I've never been inside before but I'm sure I've got clearance, since I'm an ES.W.A.T. soldier and all.

I walked up to the huge glass doors that slid open as I approached. As soon as I walked in I was addressed by the security at the desk.

"I'm sorry but I don't think you'd have any business here." The security guard at the front desk said quickly.

"Excuse me?" I retorted coldly. I raised an eyebrow and showed my ES.W.A.T. Id.'

"I'm sorry miss, I must have mistaken you for a teenager." The guard said apologetically.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." I scoffed.

"I do apologize again, but only employees are granted clearance after nine pm. ES.W.A.T. and police are only cleared in emergencies declared by their respective leaders." Said the guard.

"Oh, man. This is an emergency but I can't get Lance to clear me in time… "I replied with folded arms. "What the hell goes on here that's so top secret that ES.W.A.T. and police aren't cleared?"

"I'm afraid that's confidential. Even if I knew I couldn't tell you ma'am," The guard shrugged.

I shook my head. "Alright, well thanks anyway." I said as I left the building. The glass doors slid open as I put my id back in my pocket.

"Yeah, we forgot to mention that the only way to the roof on foot is the fire escape around back." Tereus said appearing from behind the glass doors. "Or you could have just asked for an escort to the roof."

"Thank you." I said sarcastically as I started for the back alley that lead behind the building.

"Hey." Tereus said quickly. "I'm coming with you."

"I have to go alone." I said.

"Did he say you had to?" Tereus replied quickly as he followed me around the corner.

"No, but I don't want to find out in a bad way." I said, peeking around for a way behind the building.

"Well let me worry about that." He said confidently.

"Tereus, no. Let me do this." I said turning around to him. "You're my partner you have to trust me."

"Right, I _am_ you're partner. We should do this together." He said as he approached me.

"I don't want you to get hurt. Just stay here or something." I insisted.

"Tenari, please." Tereus sighed.

"The longer you argue the longer it'll take me to find this stuff out." I said. "I haven't even found a way up there yet."

"I'll take you there." Tereus said softly.

"Tereus, I can't— Just, stop it. I have to do this alone." I said slowly. I looked at him and he looked at me with the same unsure look Briareos gave me before we set off to Africa.

"I just don't want you to be alone, not with him." He said.

I couldn't speak after that. Maybe Keoni was right, maybe Tereus _does_ have feelings for me. This isn't good. I cannot have this right now. Getting over Keoni with Tereus… It's-it just can't work. This is entirely too much. But wait, Tereus is showing jealousy. So that must mean it has something to do with those bioroid machine thing. So his feelings for me aren't real. It's probably Keoni trying to mess with my head.

"Tereus, you're being jealous. You're not supposed to be doing that." I said slowly backing away. "Go to the care center and get checked out. I'll tell you everything later." I said as I started into a backpedal and then to a jog towards the back alley I finally found. I walked until I found the fire escape ladder and began to climb up.

* * *

Yep rushed. So anyways stay tuned for the oh so anticipated ROOFTOP SCENE which will lead to the URANUS WAR!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!


	19. Development

Back from downtime again. We at my home have been going through a move from Crapcast back to Fios. So now I have wireless internet again as opposed to sitting on the floor in my grandmothers room so I can hook up to the modem. So now I'm back and finished a chapter that went wwwwwaaaaaaaaaay out in left field. I never expected it to go the way it did but I can keep it going the way it is. So now chapter 19! By the way... I called it Development because I couldn't think of anything clever this time.

I leapt up towards the bar under the first flight of stairs. I pulled myself up onto the first flight of stairs. I walked along the scaffolding with my hands sliding along the cold handrail textured with dry lumpy paint. I turned and looked back towards the street and a security guard came down the alley. I shrugged it off and continued up the fire escape.

"Hey! You there!" the guard shouted.

"I'm with ES.W.A.T. calm down" I shouted back as I continued up the stairs.

"You're not cleared to go up there!" He yelled again. He shined his flashlight in my eyes.

"Come on! I just want to go to the roof. I'm not gonna investigate your conspiracies or anything." I said shielding my eyes with my forearm. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and I continued to walk. He climbed up the fire escape after me and I stepped up on the handrail and leapt up to the next flight and over that rail and ran the rest of the way up the fire escape. I could hear the guard calling for backup behind me.

I was surprised that the buildings fire escape didn't differ from the bottom to the top. I was starting to get a bit winded half way up. I don't even know how many flights I went up. I lost count at fifteen, I think, but I kept going. I heard gunfire too. So now I had to keep moving.

Now I know police operations, right now they're shooting at me with no intent to shoot me but since I'm a ES.W.A.T. soldier they might just be trying to disable me. I turned a corner with about a quarter of the fire escape left I ran up the steps and tripped a few steps up. I felt a few bullets ricochet off the bottom of the stairs. So yeah… they were shooting at me with intent. "Sheesh! All this for trying to get to the roof of a building?" I scoffed.

"Hey hotshot!" said Keoni's voice from his walkie-talkie in my pocket. "Having trouble?"

"You can say that" I said as I pulled the walkie-talkie out.

"Come on, you're better than a few police officers aren't you?" he replied.

"There just might be FBI agents down there." I said with a chuckle. "They multiplied like roaches."

He laughed back. "I'll give you a hand. Give me a sec." I heard a high zap sound before he released the receiver button. Then after a half a moment I heard someone coming down the stairs. I looked up and it was Keoni holding what looked like a big cell phone surrounded by some transparent white bubble thing. Of course the officers shot at him but the bullets bounced off like… hmm, I can't think of a bouncing analogy.

When I looked up again I noticed I was only about four flights form the top. Then I looked down and noticed security was about four flights under me. Eventually he got to me and offered me a hand up as soon as I took his hand I was surrounded in the bubble thingy.

"Hey, Chief. Looking good as usual." He said with a friendly smirk.

"Hi, Keoni." I replied as he pulled me to my feet. As he pulled me up he pushed a few buttons on his 'cell phone' and the bubble turned completely transparent.

"C'mere" he said suddenly as he cupped my head in his hand and pulled me against him and held me there, nearly suffocating me in the process.

I pushed away from him and flailed around a little. "What are you—" I was interrupted by him quickly grabbing me and covering my mouth.

"This shield is a weapons-proof shield. If you keep swinging like that it'll force you out. _And_ it's cloaked. They can't see us down there." He said quietly.

"Well couldn't you have told me first?" I whispered loudly. "And why did you grab me like that before?"

"I used a light that causes short term memory loss. If I hadn't grabbed you, you'd be like them down there and wouldn't even know why you're even here." He said as he watched for all the guards to leave.

"Why not just tell me to close my eyes then?" I replied with folded arms?

"I just wanted to hug you." He smirked. "C'mon let's get out of here."

"Why can't we talk right here?" I asked.

"I missed a guard or two down there. They might send someone to check the escape." He said as he started for the stairs. "You gotta stay with me this thing doesn't stretch."

I walked at his side up the steps. He kept a small smile on his face the entire way. I kinda wanted to ask him why but I didn't really think I wanted to hear the answer. But I did want to know something else.

"Um, question." I said cautiously.

"…Answer?" he chuckled.

"Why did you put on that snooty, control freak, scientific genius act when we first saw each other? At first I thought you had changed but now you're acting like your old self." I asked.

"Because I knew Tereus was there." He replied. "I didn't want to be me because I know he had to have some type of feelings for you because I know that you just attract people like that. I was just too bull-headed to know I was attracted too." He chuckled.

"Uh huh." I said dryly. I really didn't want to hear the last parts…

"But I acted like that because I wanted to see if he'd step up knowing that you had someone intelligent and handsome who had interest in you, therefore causing him the realize that your standards are much higher. And that your affections are lent only to those built with mental as well as aesthetic fortitude."

"Uh… huh" I said again with a raised eyebrow.

"Because…" he started again. "I know that I missed my opportunity with you. And I know that you were probably pissed off when I kissed you."

"You know me well." I smiled.

"Yeah, you were the only one I could tolerate partnering with back at camp. But I digress. Since I denied my feelings for you on several occasions and didn't even go after you as soon as I could… I guess it's not fair for me to still be pursuing you when you've lost interest in me." He said quietly. It made me feel a bit sorry for him. But then he smiled again. "So… I figured instead of me stressing you out like I was sure I was doing after selflessly kissing you then, I decided to let Tereus have his shot at you."

"That's really sweet of you." I said. As we strolled on the short catwalk to the roof. Wasn't much up here but an elevator, a helicopter landing area and ladders to the other parts of the roof. He pointed to a corner so we could sit down and not be seen by anyone while he powered down the shield, I assume. Maybe he just wanted to sit in the corner.

"Yeah, I'm a sweetheart." He chuckled. I smiled. I couldn't help but to. I saw everything we had in his smile. All the good and the bad.

"Well you know, I do still love you. A little bit." I said.

"I know." He said. "But not nearly as much as I love you. But I guess I'll have to move on."

"Yeah, me too." I replied softly. "…You know, after I left, I could've sworn up and down you hated me."

"What?" he laughed. "How come?"

"I thought if you wanted me to stay you would've found me and brought me back in some kind of romantic type way. I dreamt up a few scenarios and everything." I smiled. "But you never came. So I hated you because you made me love you so much but didn't love me back."

"Tenari…, I'm so sorry. If I had just gone after you right when you left then…" He started.

"No, no, no. It's alright." I said quickly. "Because that's what kept me alive. I know I shouldn't have but I used that anger to drive me"

* * *

I'm gonna pick up here in the next chapter. It's not quite done yet because I fell asleep halfway into it so be on the lookout


	20. Undisclosure

Picking right up from where we left off... (fixed some spelling and grammar)

* * *

"No, no, no. It's alright." I said quickly. "Because that's what kept me alive. I know I shouldn't have but I used that anger to drive me. That's what made me the Phantom Soldier or whatever they called me."

"You're the Phantom?" He said with a big smirk, then a huge laugh. "You saved my life!"

"I did?" I said with a small smile.

"Yeah I was with a group of refugees. I brought them some food and water. I forgot where though. Then a few minutes after I was about to get a few supplies from merchants there did New Atlantis fighter jets fly in. I'd heard about them bombing refugee camps but I didn't think they would be here then. So me and a few others tried to get everyone as safe as possible so we'd at least have a chance to survive the bombing. Then someone in a shredded cloak on the roof of a building shot at the planes with a handgun."

"Yeah, I almost died after that incident." I said. "If ES.W.A.T. hadn't found me I'd have died in the desert nearby. I got shot in the arm and nearly bled to death."

"So that's what happened?" he said with a surprised look on his face. "We went looking for you in the desert and found a few footprints that disappeared after a while. We just left it and figured it another work of the Phantom." I smiled. I'm more known and appreciated out in the war than here. Maybe I should go back…

"Yeah so these self-righteous people saved my life." I said. "You'd have never seen me again if I hadn't come here."

"I see." He said. "Then I guess I owe ES.W.A.T. a pretty big favor."

"Get this war called off and we can call it even." I said.

"I wish I could." He said shaking his head in what usually was an 'I give up' sort of expression. "General Uranus is really adamant on destroying Olympus. He's ready to start exactly… thirty-one hours and 27 minutes from now." He said checking his watch which, surprisingly, was just a regular digital watch.

"So Thursday morning then?" I asked. "Man, I haven't even been here a month and I'm involved in another war."

"You'll be fine. You're the Phantom." He smiled as he playfully hit my thigh. I looked at him with a small smirk. I could tell he was looking into my eyes. I could feel it, like the feeling you get in the back of your head when you feel someone looking at you? I felt that right in my eyes. I looked away and down and my head followed. He slowly slid his hand off my thigh and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well the plan is to set pulses under the bridge to the city as well as to shut out the water ways. Uranus got me to create a shield, like this one, big enough to cover the entire city plus a mile in radius which will be activated as soon as the bridge is blown. From there we will activate the Bioroid scrambler, a more advanced version of the machine in the toy store… By the way I never knew you could skate."

"Picked it up after I left." I said "But continue."

"Right. Once inside the city another shield will be place over the care center so none can get in or out. The one on the city is set so only _people_ can get in. But no weaponry gets in or if they try to come in too fast. Like this one its motion sensitive you have to move slowly in and out." Keoni explained.

"Well what about the weapons inside?" I asked.

"Well there are actually two shields coupled together. The one outside does not let weapons in; the one inside is reversed. It doesn't let them out. So registered weapons have been issued to several modified bioroids in the city who have been reprogrammed as Martyrs, Tereus is one of them and that Yoshi guy is too, anyone affected by the machine will be used to get weapons to our soldiers and then commit suicide immediately." He said with a completely serious face.

"This is why I needed to tell you this. I don't want you to get hurt like you almost did at the toy store because it's going to be at a much great state than that. He'll be relying on survival instinct to get the weapons to us. That's why I needed you to know. I do not want you hurt at all." Keoni said looking at into my eyes again.

"I can handle myself…." I said weakly mulling everything over in my head.

"You'll be going against a watered down—slightly watered down version of Briareos; the best ES.W.A.T. has to offer and you're saying you can handle yourself? Tenari I believe in you and I trust you but this you cannot handle on your own, or with just anybody. Hell, I don't even know if I can trust myself on this one, just..." He growled to himself a bit.

"Keoni…" I could clearly see his frustration… I never knew I ever meant this much to him.

"Look, just promise me you'll get out of this alive. I'll do everything I can to protect you and Tereus but the rest is up to you." He said. He sounded so vulnerable. He might even be shaking a bit. So I looked at him and gave him a confident smirk.

"If I do end up dying it _will_ be your fault. 'Cause it damn sure won't be mine." That brought a bit of color back to his face and even conjured a bit of a smile.

"Alright, then hotshot." He said softly. "Well then that's about it. Hot spots will clearly be the Bioroid Care Center, Daedalus and Tartaros and the D-Tank."

"Yeah… only important places here." I said.

"And I'll throw in something else." He continued.

"What's that?" I replied.

"If you guys come out on top I'll join ES.W.A.T."

* * *

YAY epic finish. I don't like it though. It was supposed to be flareier than that. And something else was gonna happen buuuuuutt. NAAAHHHH. Keep a look out for Chapter 21.


	21. Last Stand

Thanks goes to COBRASTEVE and Deunan4eva for reawakening my writing muse... I don't wanna sound conceited because I hate doing that but they gave me compliments and now I wanna write. Haha. It's kinda funny. Everyone said I'm a great writer but I think I'm average at best. But thanks for the praise you guys. I'm glad to know people still are alive out there. Well here it is. The long awaited chapter 21.

* * *

So here we stood; Tereus to my right, Deunan to my left, Braireos behind me, in the front left corner of the packed briefing room, in our ES.W.A.T. spandex, surrounded by other soldiers, officials, et cetera, listening to Lance and Yoshi break down the present situation. Yoshi basically saying that our technology isn't nearly as advanced as theirs. Even having the machine from the toy store didn't help, said it was a decoy it really was nothing but an oversized transformer. That the Halcon incident paved the way for Poseidon to be known as a technological powerhouse and that most of whatever they have came from upgrades and alterations of their stuff. Stuff that we couldn't even dream of creating in this decade.

Lance was talking about how we really couldn't discern Uranus people from our own since most of Uranus followers may serve on the police force. And he's almost sure that they're in the city 'as we speak'. He said our only hope was to confiscate all registered weapons but they're all registered to citizens of the city and can't confiscate them with without warrants. And we can't do that because we can't exactly prove that we'll be under attack in a few days because there's no 'hard evidence'.

Uranus planned his attack perfectly and the only thing we can really do is lock away all the bioroids in a bomb shelter or something. And even then, I'm almost positive they have constant watch over the city... they may strike early if we lock them away which will only make matters worse because they'd all be in one place and would cause too many casualties, human or bioroid. So what they're saying is that we're looking at a VERY hopeless situation here

"So this is it you guys. This _will_ be a gruesome battle and I'm not sure if even half of you in this rooms will make it out. Especially our bioroid soldiers. So while I still have you all I want to say that it's been an honor serving with you. You're all very bra--"

"Come _on_. You're acting like this is gonna to be an all out massacre." I spoke standing beside the monitor showing all the intel of Uranus' strike. Lance had been talking like this is hopeless. There's nothing that pisses me off more than being underestimated. "We've got enough knowledge to know nearly every move he's going to make. So what if there's hardly any way to discern his soldiers from our own citizens? So what if they've got ways to turn our bioroid soldiers and citizens into martyrs? And so the hell what if there not much we can do to stop them? I was brought here to protect this city by all means, just like my brother was. And that's what I'm gonna do even if I have to do it alone."

"Tenari..." Lance said with an expression that said 'you're digging your own grave'.

"No, I'm sorry but I'm going to do this. I will fight until there's not a drop of blood left in me." I don't know where all this extra energy is coming from. I don't know why I feel so passionate about a place I had hardly lived in for a month. But I do know I was born a soldier. Fighting is what I do. I'm not gonna lay down. I saw Tereus reach for my shoulder and I immediately slapped it away. "I understand, that you may think I'm being over dramatic but I've been in hopeless situations. Keoni and I have faced entire armies together where he would be on the ground and I'd hide somewhere and snipe. We made it because we had trust in each other."

"But isn't he on the other side now?" Lance retorted firmly. "Where's the trust now?"

"Yeah, he is sided with Uranus but if it weren't for him all of this would be hitting us by complete surprise because we'd have no idea what was happening." I responded with just as much firmness. "I'm just saying, too many people have died already trying to protect this city. Don't just give up and let their sacrifice be for nothing. And I'm saying this personally. My only blood brother gave his life for Deunan so she could go save the city and as much as I'd hate to admit it, I'd do the same." I looked at Deunan, she looked at me.... The moment was awkward to say the least but she gave me a smirk and a nod.

"Actually rookie, it very well may be you who saves the city. And I'd have no problems laying down my life so you could do just that." She smiled, but it was like a bold smile. One of those smiles that make you more encouraged than happy. But... as usual, came the murmurs.

'_She's gonna stand behind a rookie?'_

_'We're not even completely sure of what she's capable of.'_

_'She can't even operate a landmate correctly, how can we entrust her with all of Olympus?'_

"You don't need a landmate to save the city." Tereus said as he put a supportive hand on my shoulder. "Just a bit of help from a few who can."

"It'd be pretty hard to support snipe in a landmate anyway" Briareos said. I smiled, I had the support of the best of ES.W.A.T.. I felt invincible and appreciated at long last. The murmurs continued but I heard a bit of _"Well they are the best out of us all" _and _"Tereus, Deunan and Briareos can do nearly anything. What if Tenari throws off that balance?" _I looked around the room and saw nothing but whispering and nudging. you'd forget these are grown men in here. So I took a breath and steeped forward.

"We can do this." I said confidently. "We four can do this. We already work great together even though we've never really done anything huge together. but we _can_ do this. I'm one-hundred percent sure of this one. But we will need you to back us up. We can't do this whole mission alone."

"We've done the impossible before." Briareos said. "We've even done it while I was out of sorts."

"Right. And chemistry isn't really an issue" Duenan spoke. "Tereus and I have partnered before and Braireos has been with Tenari since she was out in the war. We all work together fine." Lance looked at Deunan and Braireos like he wanted to believe them but just couldn't.

"We can do this Lance." Tereus said with a smile. "Give us a chance. We haven't let you down yet, have we?" Lance folded his arms and dropped his head with a sigh.

"I don't wanna lose my best soldiers. But... I do have faith in you four." He said slowly. "So I'm going to assign you to your own task force. You will operate as a separate branch of ES.W.A.T. and will answer only to myself or the Prime Minister. For this mission however you are to govern yourselves. We will inform you of our plans ASAP, Understood?"

We all straightened with a salute "Yes sir!"

"Alright. You are dismissed until further notice. Go take a break you're gonna need it."

* * *

Yep, REALLY rushed. And it took me a week to do haha. Chapter 22 coming... soonish Lord willin'


	22. Unbridled

It's been forever. BUT I'm back with my longest chapter EVER! (I think...) Oh most of the weapon references do indeed come from playing MW2. Don't judge me. So here's the Chapter you've all been waiting for. I'm off to play more MW2 on Xbox Live. Tag is MakiostarLG if you're interested

* * *

I went back home, took a nap and a shower and then just lay on the floor next to my bed with my arms and legs outstretched. That whole moment back at HQ played over and over again in my mind. I stood up for myself. I made myself known. I said what I had to and people listened and reacted. Deunan even agreed and stood by me. Even said she'd _die _for me. I'm too overwhelmed to be honored. I mean, going over this whole situation, we're fighting blindfolded right now. We don't know who's with us or against us. Bioroids are ticking time bombs. We'll be locked inside our own city being pounded by who knows what kind of weaponry and who knows how many soldiers. We can't even get additional support if we need it. Man… Thinking back to when I was "Lieutenant Tenari Sharpe" I probably wouldn't care.

"Just give me some people to shoot at. Me and my SCAR-H and my magic bullets will take care of the rest." I mused aloud to myself with that same cocky smile I'd be giving Briareos. The same smile that kept me from Africa…. This smile saved my life. I was a cocky kid. But that gave me confidence. I knew I was good and thought I was the best. You could never tell me that there was stuff higher than being a Lieutenant was either. But that war got me grounded… and so did camp with Keoni and the others. I could really use their support right about now… Oh, yeah. Keoni's walkie-talkie. I wonder if I can contact him without getting him in trouble… he likes trouble. I smiled as I slowly brought myself to my feet and jogged briskly down the stairs. I laid back on the floor in front of the chair the walkie-talkie was in and grabbed it.

I held down the talk button and rubbed the part you talk in against my hand, trying to create the illusion of static and then I stopped for a minute and waited. No answer. So I tried again before I had the button fully pressed down I got static back… a lot of it actually

"What's up Chief?"

"Well…" I started I threw my free arm out and plopped it on the floor. "Not too much. How about you?"

He let out a small chuckle. "Same goes for me. I'm actually kinda bored."

"What? How can you be? Shouldn't you be getting ready for the battle of your life?" I smiled as I fingered circles in my carpet.

"I could say the same for you. Don't you have briefings and stuff?"

"Nope, they put Deunan, Briareos, Tereus and I in our own task force. We govern ourselves. We're gonna meet in about an hour at HQ when they get our equipment and stuff ready."

"Oh, cool. So whatcha gonna use?"

"You know me, I'm just gonna—wait, how do I know you're not writing this down?"

"Trust me I'm not. I kinda already know. SMG and assault rifle right?"

"How do you know I'm not sniping?"

"You only snipe for me."

"Well, they've got me here as a sniper primarily how do you know I'm not gonna do it for them?"

"Like I said, you only snipe for me. You're using a UMP and a… M16 or SCAR with your 'magical' full metal jacketed bullets aren't you?"

"So what if I am?"

"You're so predictable."

"Shut it! Don't you have some terrorist duties to attend to or something?"

"Not really. I guess they don't have too much of a purpose for me anymore over here. I fixed everything up so they just let me do what I want now."

"They're not prepping you for battle?"

"Not at all… they don't think I should 'trouble myself' with this. They just want me to fix their toys when they're broken."

"Well that makes me feel ten times better."

"I bet, but wait, do I sense a bit of anxiety in your voice?"

"I don't know, does it sound good or bad?"

"Bad."

"Yeah, I'm pretty nervous about this."

"You? Are you kidding me? Lieutenant Tenari Sharpe is nervous?"

"…Yeah almost to the point where I could say I'm kinda scared."

"…Are, are you serious."

"…Yeah, that's why I called you actually."

"…Man, Chief… You're not kidding are you?"

"Dead serious… nice choice of words, huh?"

"Don't say that! We've been through too much for you to start being scared now."

"Well 'we' won't be going through this. It'll be me and Tereus, Deunan and Briareos. "

"Then what are you scared for? You've basically got the best team in the world—"

"Yeah, but I don't have you." I froze at how mushy that sounded. I was about to speak again to correct myself but… I meant it… I really did, mush and all… He was silent. It might've taken him by surprise. It sure took me by surprise… "I don't have my partner, I don't have my brother, I don't have the anger I used to have against you fueling me, I don't have my best friend, and Keoni without you there's just a gaping hole in me because my ego _cannot_ fill it anymore.

I'm not that same cocky teenaged tomboy who used to run and gun into anything and only come out because of luck. You gave me a sniper rifle to slow me down and it really has. It made me look at things differently. It made me a better soldier. So I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. And now we're on different sides. I cannot function without my motivation having something to do with you. I can't be my best without you. I need you Keoni." There was silence, the pretty awkward kind. And then it got loud… as if the silence were screaming in my ears. I'd expect him to say something now. You know, like anything, at all.

"Keoni?" I said again. I know he can't be overwhelmed because this is what he wants. All I'd have to do is throw an 'I love you' in there and it's exactly what he wants. And that wouldn't be entirely false. I lifted the walkie-talkie as far as my arms could stretch and dropped it on the carpeted floor. It bounced with a dull thud. Guess I'm gonna have to mentally prepare on my own. I guess I can use anger again. I can be the Phantom again. A ruthless war machine… I can't just make myself mad at him… I can't be mad at him, not now.

"Hey, open the door." came his voice from across the floor. He must be talking to someone else… forgot to turn the walkie-talkie off or something. "Open the door, Chief." He could be talking to one of the guys where he is. I mean he doesn't even know where I live. "Lieutenant Tenari Sharpe, can you come open your front door please?" I lazily somersaulted backward onto my feet and made my way to the front door. I put my hand on the doorknob and twisted it as the door popped loose from the lock. I pulled it open and there he was. He slid his walkie-talkie into his back pocket and gave me a light smile.

"Still don't want you doing this… but I guess there's no way out of it now. So I'm gonna do all I can to make sure you're at one thousand percent." He said.

"Thank you Keoni." I said.

"I don't know how long I can be with you because I need to be there to put up these shields but I need to get this to Tereus." He said as he pulled out what looked like a piece of an ear bud. "This should negate the transmission that we're gonna send out." I saw a black car pull up in front of my driveway, then I felt eyes glaring right through Keoni to me.

"Give it to him yourself." I said looking at the car. I walked past Keoni towards the car. All the doors with the exception of the drivers opened simultaneously. Briareos stepped out in a pretty intimidating fashion. The car tilting a bit as he got out didn't help. Deunan and Tereus got out and pretty much looked like his capos. Keoni followed behind me as we met at about the bottom forth of my driveway.

"Tereus, I believe you and Keoni have already met." I said uneasily. Tereus nodded slowly. "Well, Keoni…"

"Deunan Knute." He said formally. "I've heard quite a bit about you. It's an honor to finally meet you personally" He extended a hand to her and everyone eyed it suspiciously, even me. He took that as a sign of distrust and withdrew his hand. "It's okay I understand."

"I suppose you know who I am too then?" Briareos said with folded arms.

"Briareos Hecatonchires. Who doesn't know about you? The both of you are legendary soldiers. But before I begin to digress, I'm here to give this to Tereus." He said as he held out the ear bud. "This will negate the effects of the transmission sent to all the bioroids within the shield."

"If you can get that to Yoshi maybe her can duplicate—"

"No, this one will only work for Tereus." Keoni retorted quickly. "It took me too long to make that thing work just for Tereus. Every Bioroid has a different DNA like infrastructure. For example, political bioroids and soldier bioroids. The machine we have alters certain strands in the 'DNA' to create a martyr-like personality. The test we were doing over the past few days was to see if Bioroid behavior was alterable. And how different classes would react."

"So that's why I've been having those weird outbursts lately." Tereus said with folded arms.

"Right. You were even our first martyr test in the toy store." Keoni said handing him the earpiece. "But there's one thing you should know about that device."

"What's that?" Tereus said as he carefully picked it up and examined it.

"Once the transmission hits that earpiece, it will still have some effect on you. It'll cause the transmission to lift the suppression on your emotions."

YAY! I DID IT! Sorry it took so long. I think you can see where I quit and where I picked back up… but WHATEVER Chapter 22 is DONE! Now we can start the ACTIONY PART! WEWT! Twenty-three on the way =]


	23. Before The Storm

Yes... I'm not dead. I just finished this chapter to some degree of satisfaction so here it is installment number 23 of Sharp Shooter!

* * *

"My head is about to explode," I mumbled with my ears held securely between my wrists. My hands were folded across the back of my neck and my elbows were rested on my thighs right above my knees. I could feel my heartbeat pulsating throughout my whole body. All I could hear was … the muscles in my arms rumbling, then the thumping of my heart followed by a mental grunt of my head throbbing. My father always told me to breathe through the pain. It's starting to get harder to even do that. I took a long breath through my nose as I felt a pretty sizable hand rest on my shoulder.

"Is it all the way on now?" Tereus asked as he pressed down on the shoulders of my chest plate as I placed my arms through my turtle necked bulletproof vest. Our new stuff wasn't too different than our old stuff. Only thing different was the red stripes were whitish-gray and we have these weird chest plates with extended shoulder pads that say TF-324 on both sides.

"I think so…" I said as I tried to fasten all the clasps and hooks and straps on this thing. The amazing thing was even though this was hell to get on, it feels extremely comfortable. I almost feel like I have nothing on. A smile spread across my face as I rotated my arms a few times.

"This feels great! This is the first time I _ever _put on actual battle stuff." Tereus looked down at me with a smile before he went back to putting on his gear. He looked entirely too happy to be getting ready to go to war, I suppose he was trying to keep himself from getting angry, or nervous ever since he put that earpiece in he's been pretty distant. I wouldn't blame him for being afraid of how he may react and now is not the time to get anyone riled up about anything. Once that transmission hits him who knows how he'll react.

I tried to shake my head in an attempt to clear my head… But it just made everything worse… Now I'm dizzier my head hurts worse and now I feel like I wanna throw up. I felt like I looked pale… which is saying something since I'm a bit more tanned than my teammates. I looked up at the face of the owner of the hand the perched on my shoulder and tried to look like I was fine…. Not too sure how that went.

"You okay, kid? You look sick." Briareos said. His tone of voice gave the impression that he'd have a concerned look on his face.

"N-not… really. But, I suppose I'll be fine." I said with a half-dead smile. He kept his hand there for a bit before he looked away and slowly removed it from my shoulder.

"You not being sure is making me a bit uneasy..." he said slowly. "I'm not quite used to down-to-earth you yet." I smiled again, this one was genuine.

"I'm not either to be honest. I don't like that I'm not confident about this. And me feeling under the weather out of almost nowhere is not helping." I dropped my head and let my shoulders support the weight. A few strands of hair fell into my face.

I reached my hand up to brush them away as I watched my team be deployed; my team minus me that is. I stood next to the hatch controls high-fiving them all with my head hung as they dropped onto the slightly cleared LZ. I stopped hearing the rapid clunking of their footsteps and assumed they were all gone I picked up my head and there was Briareos looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you standing here looking at me sideways for? Your platoon needs you, _sir_." I said with a bit of bitterness in my voice.

"Don't be a brat, _Lieutenant_." he retorted. "I'm doing you a favor by letting you sit this one out."

"You're not letting me you're forcing me." I grumbled. "I wanna fight! I can win this."

"And that's _exactly_ why you're not going." Briareos said as he stepped a bit closer to me. "This isn't about you. It's about the team. This isn't boot camp. Just because Kudoh and Admiral Sharpe put in a good word for you and basically gave you your rank, doesn't mean you're ready for battle."

"I've proven that I'm ready for battle. I can hold my own against anyone here." I spouted, then glared right in his eyes. "Even you." He smirked.

"Is that so?" He replied. He walked past me to the opening of the hatch and stopped. "Well with all due respect, Lieutenant, you couldn't shoot your way out of a paper bag." he finished as he hopped out.

"You remember what you said to me before you deployed in Africa?" I said with squinted eyes, trying to keep as little light from going in as possible.

"Don't think so..., but I do remember calling you a brat." Briareos chuckled with folded arms.

"Yeah, you did say that too." I smirked. "But you told me I couldn't shoot my way out of a paper bag."

"Did I?" he said. His voice made it seem like he would be smiling.

"Yeah, and you were right. I wasn't ready for war." I said. I looked up at him and could see Tereus standing in the doorway behind him. "I honestly don't know if I am now. But I know I've got backup so I don't have too much to worry about."

"You've grown up too much, Lieutenant." Briareos said, playfully landing a soft punch on my chin. I smiled as I slowly stood to my feet.

_Attention. All ES.W.A.T. personnel and infantry teams. We will reach the LZ in approximately 200 seconds. Report to..._

"That's us." I stretched. I grabbed the M14 that was leaning against the bench I was sitting on and reached for the M10 on my back to make sure it was still there. "Where's Deunan?"

"She's already at the drop hatch. Said she wanted a little time to herself" Tereus spoke as he lifted himself from the doorway.

"Well let's go catch up to her." Briareos said. "You ready to go, kid?"

"Ready as I'll ever be"

* * *

Rushed, short, but I had to get this one out of the way. All the good stuff happens after this so stay tuned. (Hope you guys caught on to the flashbacks)


	24. Compromised

I had my hand flat on the crown of my head, my fingers spread through my hair. My head was still pounding and I still felt like if I walked my legs would come up from under me. But my other hand still clutched my rifle and my eyes were still sharp. I looked out of the window of the dispatching bay door at the city that looked so normal but would soon be turned into a war zone. If I didn't know any better I could say the sky knew what was about to go down. Grey patches of clouds allowed the sun to peek through for a few second every now and then.

I tilted my head to the side and lifted a concerned eyebrow. I wasn't here in this city for too long; still couldn't tell one building from any other. But here I stand ready to lay my life on the line one more time. I took a deep breath and held it in as I slowly closed my eyes. I let it out slowly through my nose as I heard soft static from Keoni's walkie-talkie on my hip.

"You guys set to go, Chief?" came Keoni's voice.

"Don't know about me... but the rest of the guys are." I said quietly. My head still wasn't agreeing with me.

"Well you need to get yourself together right now. There are a few things I need to tell you all. Is everybody there?" Keoni said a bit quieter.

"Where's Duenan?" Tereus asked softly. Braireos started out of the dispatch bay as Deunan appreared coming in that same direction.

"What's up?" she asked as she swung her P90 over her shoulder.

"Keoni has something he wants to say" I said, gripping the walkie talkie. "Go ahead."

I could hear him let out a sigh. I supposed he dropped the walkie talkie from his face because I could hear him bring it closer. "Things on this end are running a bit odd." he started. "Nothing's going the way it was planned."

"What do you mean?" Braireos asked with folded arms.

"This means that either something was compromised and they haven't told me or, they know I've been giving you information." Keoni said slowly.

"Well either way we have more intel than we would have ever had so that's not too much of a problem." Briareos said. "But we do have to tell Lance so he'll at least know that we're in the dark again."

"We've fought in the dark before so one more times shouldn't be a problem." Deunan said.

"I'll go let him know" Tereus said as he headed back into the hall.

"So you have any suggestions for us now?" I asked as Tereus left.

"Go by instinct, expect anything." Keoni replied. "Tereus should still be safe if they do decide to still use the transmission. But the side effect still stands."

"That's the least of our worries." I said. "I need another gun..." I mused absentmindedly. Briareos took the handset from me as I made my way to the arms closet nearby.

"Well what are you gonna do? They're going to try to silence you." Briareos said.

"I know." Keoni replied. "I'm just going to try to keep you guys as informed as I can. You're carrying some precious cargo." I smiled to myself a bit as I set aside an FAL and still deciding whether I should tote a pistol or carry a submachine gun.

"I see." Briareos answered. I felt him look at me. It's funny how even when they're not human you can still tell when someones eyes are on you. "From the looks of it, they're pretty aware of that." I tried to act like I didn't hear him and continued to weigh my load-out options. I picked up both a Vector and an MP5K and was looking at a UMP and P90 as Tereus and Deunan walked into the room.

"What's up?" Deunan asked already carrying her P90. Now I was just looking at the Vector, UMP and MP5K.

"I've been comprismised." Keoni replied. "I'm pretty sure they know about me."

"So it's business as usual now, right?" Deunan asked.

"That's what it's looking like." I replied finally deciding on the MP5K.

"I was kinda expecting that." Deunan grinned. "Things were seeming a bit too easy."


	25. Pacifist

I just finished watching a full anime... Let's see if you can tell which one.

* * *

"Come to think of it... I've never actually, well directly, killed anyone before." I thought aloud as we slowly hovered over the city. I thought this was pretty suspicious looking but I guess they figured that they know we know. I hung limply from this drop thing that's supposed to propel me down. As the WASP weaved I could hear the weapons on my back scrape each other lightly. 'Look at me, I'm dressed to kill, literally' I thought. I slowly threw my hand on the stock of the M4 strapped across my back and then to the MP5K that hung at just about my waist. I also had a M1911 on my left thigh and an my old trusty Socom on my right; the suppressor was in a pouch on my left arm. I felt a bit of unease knowing that my hands may indeed get very bloody today. But, I'm here to protect the last living city on this planet. I have to sacrifice a few for many. Besides it's them or me, right?

"Tenari." Said Briareos' stern voice. My head snapped to him, I almost saluted and replied with a hardened 'Sir!'

"Yeah?" I replied pretty quickly. I hardly even noticed I said anything.

"You see why I didn't let you go in Africa?" Briareos said as he sat on a bench behind me. "I know you've never killed anyone."

"But how?" I never told anyone here that before. Not even Briareos. The only one who really knows that is Keoni.

"You act a certain way after you've take a life." Briareos said quietly. "It always changes you. Whether for the good or the bad. You're never the same person. It eats you up inside that because of someones interaction with you that their existence ended." It was eating at me that we're having this conversation. I already feel bad enough that I _may_ have to kill someone. I haven't even done it yet.

"I had to kill in Africa to defend myself. And look at how I ended up." He said. He froze and hung his head for a second. Even though he was a cyborg his movements were no less human. "I may never be flesh and blood again and that's wishful thinking. I'm truly amazed and acknowledge you as an amazing warrior for getting this far without taking a life. But this time, unlike last time, I can't keep you in the Osprey, I can't order you to stand down. But I will say this," he trailed, bringing all five of his eyes to meet mine. "Kill, or be killed."

I swallowed hard as my eyes widened. I knew the day would come. I couldn't continue to be a soldier without taking the life of another. It's just not realistic. My eyes were locked to Briareos', mostly focused on the center one. It good that he told me that. I needed to hear that. But I didn't want to have to act on it so soon. I closed my eyes in an attempt to sort things out in my mind. It didn't work but I'd have to settle. I opened them again with a small smirk. "I feel sick to my stomach, my head is pounding and, and..., hell I don't know what else. But Hitomi and Athena brought me here to do what I'm about to do and I've got to get it done, at any cost." I found my smile growing. "I don't want to, but if it has to be done to protect the city I'll do it."

"Alright you guys. Prepare to drop in thirty seconds." came the voice over the intercom. I was already ready. Deunan was too Tereus and Briareos walked to thei respective pods as well.

"You can do this Tenari." Deunan nodded. I nodded back and smiled, It;s amazing how a few days earlier I was plotting the downfall of Deunan Knute. And now we're fighting side by side. Funny turn of events.

* * *

Yes another short chapter... but now I can get to the ending of it now so that's on the way


	26. Rotary

He everyone... sorry for the maaaaaaaaaaasssssive delay but I've been busy. I'm sorry that the chapter is so short but wanted to get something out to you guys... So here goes

* * *

My body hurt all over or was it that my whole body was numb... I couldn't tell. My head throbbed though. I let my eyes ease open and looked at whatever they were aligned with. It might have been the sky, I think I was laid out on my back. I wasn't sure yet. Somebody ran by me with their gun raised.

Then I realized what happened.

I scanned my surroundings and realized I was looking at the sky. What was a bright vibrant blue sky was filled with smoke. Last thing I remember was... I was giving Deunan a handshake and we both heard the missile coming. Guided stealth missile. Undetectable but rather loud. And they tried to get us as close to the ground as they could while trying to stabilize the WASP and we got hit again. I think I hit my head on something, knocked me clean out. So where is every-

"Good you're awake." said a voice I couldn't immediately recognize. Still a bit dazed I suppose. I looked to the source and saw Tereus ducked behind what looked like a blown up delivery truck, he too had his rifle readied. I scrambled onto my hands and knees and noticed my back was sore. I must've landed on my guns. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said shaking my head trying to collect myself. "Where are we?"

"Believe it or not, right outside the care center." he replied. I looked up as I took cover beside him the building was still intact from what I could see of the outside. Just broken glass and mercenaries shooting guns out of them..., yep everythings fine... "We got hit by guided missile fire as we got close to the care center. We all tried to hurry and deploy but, as you can see..." he trailed he looked my in the eye to see if I got the gist of the rest. I rose an eyebrow and shrugged a bit as a stray bullet popped a tire on the truck we were hiding behind.

"Where are Deunan and Briareos?" I asked as I pressed myself against the truck and checked the ammo in my rifle.

"Making their way in if they haven't already." He replied, reloading his rifle and undermounted grenade launcher. "I was waiting for you so we could go and back them up."

"Well what are you waiting for now?" I said with less action than I wanted it to. I was supposed to run out from behind this truck into God knows what while getting yelled at for being childlike, impetous, et cetera. But, adversly, I was too stunned to move. Because I knew I'd have to take someones life today. So instead I just looked at Tereus and... I think I smiled. I shifted to my knee and slowly peeked around the truck. I wish I had any type of sniper rifle because everybody I caught a glance at could have easily been dispatched. However... I can switch my M4 to three round..., no not a clean enough shot; it shoots kinda fast. Wish I at least had a decent pistol or something. Well... Tereus has an M203. Time to test my target marksmanship.

"Tereus, I need you to listen to me. Because we're literally gonna have to shoot blind." I said as I sprayed a few random rounds around the truck and moved closer towards the center. I watched the return fire closely. The angle looked like it was coming from about... "Fourth story middle window." I pointed a more direct angle.

Tereus shifted back a bit, took aim and fired with a hollow _ploomp_ the grenade flew. I heard impact shattered glass and cease of fire from that direction. I took a peek from behind the truck and saw the rifle that was firing a few moments before hanging from shards in the window by its shoulder strap. I actually felt guilty because this time I actually noticed my indirect kill. "Kill confirmed." I said weakly. "There are a few ground units by the front entrance. And we need to advance before they blow this truck." I shifted to one knee to get ready to make a dash for my next area of cover when Tereus grabbed my shoulder.

"This is a war, people know what they're getting into. Don't feel bad about having to pull the trigger on them because they won't hesitate to pull it on you." He said sternly. I looked him in the eyes and saw a bit of warmth behind his stoney front. I blinked and nodded slowly.

"Just don't expect me to go on a killing spree... or be surprised if I do." I replied. I made a dash for another overturned car a bit closer to the building. Tereus stayed behind the truck. As I expected their fire followed me. I scanned ahead quickly trying to find a way to remove those guys from the equation.

Two took cover behind an overturned car and about four or five more behind some type of cover further back under the care center sign. I reared up to shoot at the few who were taking cover towards the rght of the sign until I heard a long clanging noise. Quickly taking cover from the ensuing return-fire I unpinned a frag grenade and a flash grenade at the same time. The frag I threw so it would roll under the car, the flash I bounced off the roof of the car and towards the soldiers on the other end.

"I'd think a sniper wold have better aim." Tereus jeered as he laid down some supressing fire.

I looked at him as he turned away from the flashbang. I smugly counted three seconds on my fingers so he could see. Right before the frag exploded, I shot the cable holding the sign onto the building causing it to fall, clipping the car as it rose and flipping the sign downwards on top of the blinded soldiers on the other side.

"Can't think of a witty comeback, I just hope these guys aren't dead." I said before I sprinted from behind the car and towards the building, confirming that everyone was down. "Think any of them made it—"

"Don't have time to think about that... Briareos and Deunan need us." Tereus said as he walked past.

I took a final look at the victims hoping for some kind of twitch or movement before I slowly dragged myself away. I was trained not to take lives... Every life is precious. But taking is entirely too easy..

* * *

Just to be on the safe side I think I'm gonna say that this is definitely on semi-brief hiatus... it's taking me far too long to write and my interest is dwindling... I will do my best to finish it however


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